Basketball in Greece

Panathinaikos, Olympiakos and Peristeri extended their perfect records at the start of the Basket League to five wins in as many games with their easy victories against minor opposition.

Panathinaikos overcame host Panionios 88-67 on Monday, Olympiakos thrashed Lavrio 102-63 at home on Sunday and Peristeri downed Ifaistos Limnou 89-81, having led by up to 25 points during the game.

The new Basket League season started this weekend with three new entries in the top flight, one of which, Peristeri, scored a big upset over FIBA Champions League holder AEK on Saturday. The other two, Ifaistos Limnou and Holargos had too high mountains to climb.

PAOK dumped Basketball Champions League winner AEK out of the Basket League semifinals and Promitheas Patras will play in Europe for the first time in its history, as the best-of-three first round of the play-offs ended for all pairs after Game 2 on Saturday. Panathinaikos and Olympiakos strolled through.

Thessaloniki rivals PAOK and Aris had opposite fortunes on Wednesday in the Basket League, as PAOK triumphed at AEK to become the favorite for the third spot while Aris edged closer to the drop going down at home to Kymi. Trikala is definitively relegated.

AEK jumped to the third spot of the Basket League on Saturday with its victory over Lavrio, while Aris took a leap to safety.

AEK, Lavrio and Promitheas scored away wins in the Basket League over the weekend to continue vying for the two remaining spots in the top four of the regular season that grant home advantage in the first round of the play-offs.

Cup winner AEK edged out Korivos 77-75 at Amaliada in a particularly close game that leaves the Peloponnesian team one place above the relegation zone.

The impressive thumping of Aris by Kymi and the first win in the season by Panionios stood out among the results of the ninth round of games of the Basket League. Yet in the most important match of the weekend PAOK thrashed AEK to confirm it is on its way up.

AEK upset Olympiakos at home on Sunday to allow Panathinaikos, victor of Aris in Thessaloniki, to open a two-point gap at the top of the Basket League. The Greens are already huge favorites for the top spot of the regular season.

The triumph of Lavrio over AEK, the mauling of Aris by Promitheas and the return of Vassilis Spanoulis stood out in the weekend's action at the Basket League.

The rejuvenated national basketball team, deprived of Greece's players in the Euroleague, premiered with a victory in overtime against Great Britain at Leicester on Friday, in its first game for the 2019 World Cup qualifiers.

Greece won 95-92 in front of a mixed set of fans where Greek students and expats had a very strong presence and often outshouted the Brits.