Nick Calathes

Panathinaikos tried to match Real Madrid in Spain on Monday but its host was a class apart and won easily 96-78 in the end, at a game played four days earlier for the Euroleague's 26th round.

Both Panathinaikos and Olympiakos surrendered handsome first-half leads to lose on the road in their Euroleague games, as their hosts, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Red Star Belgrade respectively, proved more resilient and resolute.

Maccabi beat Panathinaikos 88-79 on Thursday despite the Greens leading by up to 18 points early in the second period in Israel (31-13).

Panathinaikos and Olympiakos had to dig deep to score precious home wins at the start of another very demanding week in the Euroleague, with the Greens downing Fenerbahce behind closed doors and the Reds needing overtime to defeat Khimki.

Panathinaikos produced an important road win at Zalgiris Kaunas for the Euroleague on Tuesday, while Olympiakos let its lead at Bayern slip through its hands to lose in Munich.

Panathinaikos reached a 2-2 record in the Euroleague beating Zenit in St Petersburg on Thursday, while Olympiakos suffered a third reverse in four games going down at Baskonia on Friday.

A more consistent Panathinaikos secured its first road win of the season, beating Zenit 89-79 after leading for most of the night in Russia.

Greece's Euroleague representatives are already drifting away from the top eight spots of the table, that lead to the playoffs, after their home losses this week, as Panathinaikos went down to Armani Milano and Olympiakos to Zenit St Petersburg.

Panathinaikos blew a 13-point lead and a great chance for an away win at Villeurbanne on Thursday, but Olympiakos produced an emphatic home victory over Valencia on Friday. Both Greek teams are now on a 1-1 record in the Euroleague.

The Greens went down 79-78 at ASVEL due to a disastrous last quarter that undid all that the Greek champion had achieved in the first 30 minutes.

The start of the 2019-2020 Euroleague this week was far from impressive for the two Greek teams, but at least Panathinaikos did the job beating Red Star Belgrade at home while Olympiakos suffered at the hands of new boys ASVEL Villeurbanne in France.

Panathinaikos is left ruing the missed chance of a break last Wednesday in Game 1 of the Euroleague play-off series with Real Madrid, as in Friday's Game 2 it lost 78-63 and is on the verge of elimination in this best-of-five series. No team has ever won a series on this level having trailed 2-0.

Rick Pitino's Panathinaikos produced its sixth consecutive Euroleague win, and probably the most important one too, beating Armani Milano in Italy, while Olympiakos slumped to a shocking loss at Gran Canaria.