Hard work pays off for Reds and Greens

Olympiakos and Panathinaikos had to work hard to score home wins for the Euroleague on Friday, against opposition that in other seasons would not have troubled them so much.

The Reds are on an 8-12 record after downing Bayern Munich 89-72 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in the first win for coach Giorgos Bartzokas after his return to Piraeus. A tremendous final quarter made up for a poor third one that allowed Bayern to harbor big hopes for a win in Greece.

The hosts started well to advance 37-32 at half-time, but the second half was quite different. Bayern began scoring from everywhere and started building up a lead, only for the Reds to wake up toward the end of the quarter, when they edged ahead again (54-53). They then imposed themselves with some beautiful basketball, adding 35 points in the last period for a comfortable victory  by 17.

Giorgos...