Olympiakos beats Russian title favorites 76-74 for lead in best-of-three quarterfinal series

 Olympiakos players swarm over an overwhelmed Lynn Greer, whose two-point shot on the buzzer gave Olympiakos a shock win.

Olympiakos handed CSKA Moscow, a favorite for this season’s Euroleague title, a shock defeat at its home stadium in last night’s opening encounter of a best-of-three quarterfinal series. Lynn Greer, Olympiakos’s second-highest scorer with 19 points, netted a two-point shot on the buzzer to give Olympiakos a 76-74 victory.

Olympiakos went into the encounter having deprived Real Madrid, another fallen title favorite, of a quarterfinal spot. The Greek underdog grabbed hold of an early lead and led throughout. CSKA came closest to overtaking Olympiakos in the final minute of play when the Moscow club equalized at 74-74. Olympiakos outscored CSKA from the first to third quarters and led by 10 points, 62-52, at the end of the third period after leading by seven, 39-32, at halftime and four, 24-20, at quarter-time.

“CSKA Moscow has been a contender for the European title over the past seven to eight years. We’re not flying high over this. We’ve just won the first half”, Olympiakos coach Panayiotis Yiannakis told Skai TV shortly after his team’s win. The two teams meet again tomorrow at Olympiakos’s Peace and Friendship Stadium.

“Every game is a different story. CSKA has been in this situation many times before, and we’re still relatively new at it”, noted Yiannakis, also the national team’s coach, who was recently hired by Olympiakos to bring purpose to an unconvincing team. “A difficult game awaits us. CSKA is a team loaded with prominent players who can turn a game around at any given moment”.

Former Olympiakos player Theodoris Papaloukas, one of the stars at CSKA whose game Yiannakis knows well through their ties at the national team, was grounded by the solid Greek team. The high-scoring player was limited to six points, while the Russian team’s other Greek star, Nikos Zisis, also a member of Yiannakis’s national team, played a mediocre game as well. A third game, if needed, has been scheduled for Thursday week in Moscow.