Greek League, Playoffs, Quarterfinals Game 2: May 5, 2008
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Three spots in the Greek League playoff semifinals were decided Monday as defending champion Panathinaikos, Olympiacos and Panionios On Telecoms all swept their respective best-of-three quarterfinal series. The Greens pounded Olympia Larissa 55-74 on the road thanks to a well-balanced effort led by 23 points from Stratos Perperoglou, the Reds edged AEK 68-70 as Lynn Greer’s 24 points and Panionios bested Panellinios 80-95. Meanwhile, Aris TT Bank survived at Maroussi after overtime to tie the series and set up a deciding Game 3 Thessaloniki on Thursday.
Panathinaikos did not have to use its full arsenal to skip past Olympia in Larissa 55-74 behind 23 points from Stratos Perperoglou. Kennedy Winston added 13 points, while Vassilis Spanoulis had 4 points, 6 assists and 4 steals for the winners. Olympiacos found it hard to handle at OAKA Sports Hall, outlasting AEK 68-70. The hosts started the game with an impressive 10-0 run and remained at helm after two quarters with the convincing 39-25 lead. However, Olympiacos strengthened its defense in the third period and took the lead. Dimitris Papanikolaou tied the game with a triple 14 seconds to the end, but failed to give AEK the win at the buzzer as he missed a difficult three-pointer to answer back to Lynn Greer’s go-ahead free throws. Greer finished with 24 points, Panagiotis Vassilopoulos added 14 and Rod Blakney contributed 10. Christos Tapoutos scored 15 points on 4 triples, but had only 1 free throw after the first period, while William Avery had 12.
In Maroussi, Aris begun with a 2-11 run before the hosts came back and tied it at 30-30. The guests seemed to seal the win when they built a 55-72 difference, but Maroussi was not ready to surrender and the hosts forced an 84-84 overtime as Dimitris Tsaldaris missed twice from the charity stripe when he could have gifted Aris the win. Jeremiah Massey stepped up in overtime to lead Aris to tie the series and bring back the battle to Thessaloniki. Massey totaled 22 points and 9 rebounds, Bracey Wright matched him in points, Savvas Iliadis sank 19 points off the bench, Darius Washington had 13 and Vladimir Boisa added 10 for Aris. Maroussi got 28 points from Jarod Stevenson and 26 from Branko Milisavjevic. In Kypseli, Panionios controlled the game’s tempo over Panellinios from the beginning en route to the final 80-95 and a birth at the semifinals. Giannis Kalampokis scored 20 points, Dusan Sakota and Ivan Zoroski had 16 apiece, Giannis Georgalis added 11 and Lonny Baxter 10. Jurica Golemac posted 17 and Anthony Grundy 16 for Panellinios in defeat.
| Quarterfinal Playoffs, best of 3 games |
| Record | Team | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | | 2 | Panathinaikos (1) | 74 | 58 | x | | 0 | Olympia Larissa (8) | 55 | 78 | x | | 2 | Panionios On Telecoms(4) | 83 | 95 | x | | 0 | Panellinios (5) | 70 | 80 | x | | 2 | Olympiacos (2) | 92 | 70 | x | | 0 | AEK (7) | 62 | 68 | x | | 1 | Aris TT Bank (3) | 61 | 98 | May 8 | | 1 | Maroussi (6) | 72 | 95 | - |
| Quarterfinal games | | Game 1 | Panathinaikos vs. Olympia Larissa | 74-55 | May 3 | | Game 1 | Olympiacos vs. AEK | 92-62 | May 3 | | Game 1 | Aris TT Bank vs. Maroussi | 61-72 | May 3 | | Game 1 | Panionios On Telecoms vs. Panellinios | 83-70 | May 3 | | Game 2 | Olympia Larissa vs. Panathinaikos | 58-78 | May 5 | | Game 2 | AEK vs. Olympiacos | 68-70 | May 5 | | Game 2 | Maroussi vs. Aris TT Bank | 95-98 | May 5 | | Game 2 | Panellinios vs. Panionios On Telecoms | 80-95 | May 5 | | Game 3 | Aris TT Bank vs. Maroussi | - | May 8 |
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Stelios Kyriakoglou, Athens
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