Basket League

Panathinaikos broke the all-time record in rebounds at a Basket League game against Kolossos Rhodes on Monday as it extended its perfect record in the Basket League to 20 wins in as many games. There were also important wins for PAOK, Lavrio and Kymi over the weekend.

Olympiakos and Panathinaikos put aside domestic concerns to win at home and retain alive their hopes for a play-off spot in the Euroleague, three rounds of games before the end of the regular season.

As it had warned, Olympiakos forfeited the Basket League derby with Panathinaikos on Sunday and is staring at relegation, according to the league's rules.

One week before the scheduled match-up of Olympiakos with Panathinaikos, the Greens strolled to an easy home win over Panionios to extend their perfect domestic record further for this season. The win of the weekend belonged to Kolossos though.

Aris nearly took advantage of the recent slump in form of Olympiakos to force a major upset in Piraeus for the Basket League on Monday, but the Reds eventually won by nine to calm their nerves.

Olympiakos had opened a 16-point gap against Aris, but the Thessaloniki team slashed its deficit to just four (69-65) before the host held on for a 76-67 result.

The basketball judge came hard on Olympiakos on Saturday, punishing the Reds with a six-point deduction from their Basket League tally, for walking out of the Greek Cup semifinal against Panathinaikos last Wednesday.

A buzzer-beating triple by experienced Panayiotis Vassilopoulos allowed Peristeri to escape from Holargos in the closest of the Basket League games on the weekend before the month-long recess for next weekend's All-Star Game and the Cup semis and final later this month.

PAOK and Promitheas Patras have beaten AEK and Peristeri respectively to set up a four-way tie at the third spot involving them all, in what evolves into a very exciting battle in the Basket League.

Holargos has become the latest of Greek teams to challenge Olympiakos at home and threaten the Reds with their second defeat, but without success.

The Basket League new boys took Olympiakos to overtime in the gripping game that took place on Sunday, only for the far more experienced visitors to win 73-68, after 45 tense minutes that produced just 141 points in total.

Promitheas almost forced Olympiakos's second loss in the Basket League, but the Reds held on to stay one point behind leader Panathinaikos.