Panathinaikos BC maintained the home-court advantage, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series in the Greek men’s basketball league finals, after comfortably defeating archrivals Olympiacos BC (80-68) at the OAKA stadium on Friday night.
The Greens led in three of four periods (20-19, 22-15, 16-16, 22-18), having 50.8% field goal accuracy against the Reds’ 42.2%. The reigning Greek champions had 36 rebounds against Olympiacos’s 37.
Jerian Grant scored 17 points for Pana, with former NBA star and Euroleague MVP Kendrick Nunn contributing 14 points and 6 assists to his team’s win. Center Yurtseven added 12 points, grabbing 7 rebounds. For the Reds, another former NBA star, Sasha Vezenkov, led his team with 20 points while pulling down 10 rebounds, with Evan Fournier scoring 12.
The two teams are scheduled to meet again on Sunday night at the OAKA stadium.
