Olympiacos sets up Greek A1 final against Panathinaikos

Olympiacos Pireus has punched its ticket to the Greek A1 final, joining arch rival Panathinaikos in the showpiece final series. Of course, Panathinaikos had booked its spot with a clean sweep over PAOK Athens, but Olympiacos was made to play a fourth game after Aris Thessaloniki shocked The Reds in Game 3.

There was to be no repeat shock despite Aris having home court advantage as Olympiacos secured its final position with a 62-79 road win. The Thessaloniki club sure started the game well and through the opening minutes dictated the pace before taking an 18-16 lead at the end of the first stanza. Aris kept up the good play in the second quarter, but Olympiacos was warming into the contest and plundered 27 points while the hosts managed 21. At the midway buzzer the teams headed to the locker rooms with the scoreboard reading 39-43 in favour of Olympiacos. The visitors had the momentum needed to drive to the game and in the third frame Olympiacos all but secured a final spot with a 12-22 surge that made it 51-65 through thirty minutes. Aris Thessaloniki had a mountain to climb and simply could not get back into the game as The Reds used their experience and class to close it out.

Vassilis Spanoulis was typically the attacking architect for the winners, the playmaker secured 14 points and handed out 7 scoring passes. He was followed by Matt Lojeski with 13 points, although it was a rare game for Lojeski as he offered no rebounds or no assists.

Jeremy Hunt topped the scoring with 16 points for Aris, while Lamarcus Reed grabbed 10 points and Alexander Vezenkov logged 11 boards.