Basketball in Greece

"The German finance minister never wanted the Greek program to succeed," Telecoms & Media Minister Nikos Pappas said on Saturday referring to Wolfgang Schaeuble, one of Athens's staunchest critics.

Greece's Euroleague representatives started another "double week" in the tournament very well, with Olympiakos beating Red Star Belgrade at home on Tuesday and Panathinaikos triumphing at Armani Milano on Wednesday.

Despite the absences of Giorgos Printezis and Daniel Hackett, Olympiakos strolled to a 73-65 home win for its ninth victory in 13 games in the regular season.

New Democracy on Monday reacted to comments made by Digital Policy Minister Nikos Pappas earlier in the day in which he accused the conservative opposition of serving the interests of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

A statement by ND on Monday accused Pappas, a key aide of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, of engaging in "Goebbelsian propaganda."

Olympiakos and Panathinaikos scored precious wins to consolidate themselves in the play-off positions of the Euroleague with 12 out of 30 games played in the regular season.

The Reds won 88-75 at Zalgiris Kaunas on Thursday after a solid game during which they grew stronger as the match went along.

Istanbul proved once again very hospitable for Olympiakos, that defeated host Darussafaka on Friday for the Euroleague, just as Panathinaikos suffered a bad defeat at Barcelona.

Olympiakos practically offset its home loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv last week beating Darussafaka 77-71 to take its record to six wins in 10 games.

Olympiakos defeated AEK at home on Saturday and is now alone on top of the Basket League with eight wins in as many games.

The Reds won 78-67 to inflict AEK's first league loss this season as its spectacular run came to an end. Led by Matt Lojeski (17 points), Olympiakos advanced by up to 21 points before AEK reduced the deficit in the end.

ATHENS - Partizan Belgrade lost 91-81 (22-14, 20-19, 20-29, 27-19) to AEK Athens on the road in their FIBA Basketball Champions League Group E, Round 6 game late Wednesday.

Dusan Sakota led the Greek team with 19 pts, with William Hatcher scoring 18 pts for Partizan.

It was the third defeat in the competition for Partizan, who will host Italy's Sassari next Tuesday.

Panathinaikos shook off the two defeats within 48 hours in the Euroleague last week to beat host Aris in the Basket league on Monday and remain one point behind leaders Olympiakos and AEK.

Led by birthday-boy Chris Singleton (16 points), Panathinaikos overcame the Champions League challenger with a 71-59 score in what traditionally is one of the trickiest trips for the Athens giants.

Olympiakos won the Greek derby against Panathinaikos (79-77) in the Euroleague away from home, and moved to 5 losses 3 wins, with the greens falling to 4 wins and 4 losses. The match was a thriller, with the lead changing hands on many occasions.

Olympiakos came from behind (76-72) in the end to defeat archrival and host Panathinaikos 79-77 after a spectacular all-Greek encounter for the Euroleague at the Olympic Sports Hall on Friday. The winner has moved on to a 5-3 record, while Panathinaikos is on four wins in eight games.