Greens and Reds surrender big leads on the road

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).

The Greek champion had a very productive first half and this carried it through to leading for the game's first 34 minutes. However the weakness in rebounds and the second consecutive game in which Nick Calathes conceded too many fouls pegged the Greeks down and allowed Maccabi to lead for the first time five-and-a-half minutes from the end and never relinquish their advantage till the end.

Coached by Greek Yiannis Sfairopoulos, who appeared ecstatic with the result, Maccabi outplayed the Greens in the last...