ESAKE 53
Olympiacos vs. Panathinaikos: History on the Reds’ side?
In Greece, it will indeed be Olympiacos versus Panathinaikos playing for the championship for their sixth season in a row. Despite the disappointment Reds fans have suffered in recent history – as eight-time consecutive champs, the Greens have knocked off their rivals in the last seven Greek finals meetings going back to 1999 – Sport.gr […]
Olympiacos takes Greek Cup, remains undefeated in EΣAKE play
BallinEurope this morning offers congratulations to Olympiacos, who just keep steamrolling through their EΣAKE season, last night taking the 2011 Greek Cup over rivals Panathinaikos, 74-68. In their third defeat of the Greens thus far in 2010-11, Olympiacos’ chief heroes were game MVP Milos Teodosic and Ioannis Bouroussis; the former went for 18 points in […]
Greek basketball in 2010-11: Worst season ever?
While Olympiacos continues to chase history in a story that will be continued tonight against Kolossos Rhodes while seemingly on the way to another memorable finals clash with rival Panathinaikos, some are not so positive about the current state of Hellas’ game. Sport.gr writer Costas Papantoniou gives a rundown of what he calls “the worst […]
Greek League wrap: Olympiacos perfect, Panathinaikos breaks records against Panellinios, AEK relegated
Despite playing without Vassilis Spanoulis and Theo Papaloukas, Olympiacos kept its date with the history books in easily defeating Iraklis Thessaloniki last night in front of a mostly empty stadium, 83-44. The Reds thus conclude the EΣAKE regular season at 26-0, becoming the first team ever to do so and the first to go undefeated […]
Olympiacos tops Panathinaikos in OT, 87-83; two games away from Apollonian feat
Greek powerhouses Olympiacos may have been bounced from Euroleague competition, but Reds heads have surely already forgotten all about Montepaschi Siena and that lot as their side rips through Greek basketball. In finishing off rivals Panathinaikos, 87-83 in overtime, just before midnight last night, Olympiacos completes the season sweep of the Greens while extending its […]
Top 100 teams in Europe: The Return
After a few weeks off, BallinEurope finally returns the Top 100 list for your perusal this week. With Euroleague ball on a break, not much has changed near the top of the table, though Olympiacos’ dominance in EΣAKE ball has again leapfrogged them over Real Madrid for the no. 2 spot on the BiE table […]
Olympiacos-Panathinaikos Greek Cup final, certain fan outburst, postponed
Like BallinEurope, you may have been wondering just what sort of insanity might go down during the upcoming Olympiacos-Panathinaikos Greek Cup final scheduled for this coming Sunday. Well, wonder no longer, for thanks to a couple of snafus, the decision has been made by the Greek Sports Ministry to postpone the game to a later […]
Vassilakopoulos: Full steam ahead on Mediterranean League
BallinEurope admits to having felt a great deal of skepticism when the rumors of a new major pan-European (and now -Asian! But more on that momentarily) basketball association were first announced; day by day it seems, however, that the Mediterranean League comes closer to reality. The prospective league could potentially involve teams from nine nations, […]
Iraklis players strip jerseys on court, team president calls team play “gay”
By the time the home side left the floor, the teams resembled members of a schoolyard “Shirts vs. Skins” game, but very little playground bonhomie was evidenced in the aftermath of Sunday’s Iraklis BC-PAOK match in Greece. PAOK (8-7, tied for fourth place in EƩAKE play) manhandled the homers (3-12, tied for 14th) in the […]
Olympiacos pulls off 65-61 upset at PAO, forced to flee rain of fire
What in the name of Naismith is going on in Greek basketball? Will Olympiacos and Panathinaikos ever again meet without players having to fear mortal injury? In the first game between the Greek superpowers since last season’s capper known as “The Night of Shame,” Olympiacos ground out a 65-61 win in territory literally made hostile […]
Flashing back with Olympiacos and Panathinaikos
It’s kinda like time travel, of a sort. From the Plus Ça Change Department via the ever-fantastic and -enthusiastic Basketball Dreamer comes this link to a New York Times story entitled “European Basketball: Passionate Greek Drama” … from 1997.
Notes on Panathinaikos-Olympiacos, most important game of 2010-11
If tonight’s Panathinaikos-Olympiacos match isn’t the most important game thus far in the 2010-11 basketball season in Europe, BiE can’t think of what would be. Of no little significance in this clash of the titans, too, is its status as the first meeting between the teams since the 2009-10 EΣAKE championship final game, a.k.a. “The […]