Ioannis Papapetrou

Panathinaikos will go island-hopping this week, as on Monday it won at one of Europe's easternmost courts, and three days later, on Thursday night, it will face Gran Canaria on European basketball's westernmost outpost.

Santa Claus came from the US for the Greens, with coach Rick Pitino leading Panathinaikos to a home triumph over CSKA Moscow on Friday, after Olympiakos stumbled where it was least expected, going down at Darussafaka on Thursday.

Sports fans will be glued to their TV sets Thursday as the Euroleague Basketball Final Four gets underway in Istanbul. Greek national champion Olympiakos takes on defending Euroleague champion CSKA Moscow at 6.30 p.m. (Greek time) before Spanish giant Real Madrid goes head to head with Turkish side Fenerbahce at 9.30 p.m.

Sports fans will be glued to their TV sets Thursday as the Euroleague Basketball Final Four gets underway in Istanbul. Greek national champion Olympiakos takes on defending Euroleague champion CSKA Moscow at 6.30 p.m. (Greek time) before Spanish giant Real Madrid goes head to head with Turkish side Fenerbahce at 9.30 p.m.

Olympiakos and Panathinaikos have taken their first step toward reaching the finals of the Basket League, beating Aris and AEK respectively at the start of the best-of-five semifinal series.

Olympiakos will play Anadolu Efes and Panathinaikos will face off with Fenerbahce as the two Greek teams have secured home advantage for the Euroleague play-offs and will try to make it count in their quarterfinal best-of-five clashes with their Turkish opponents.

Olympiakos beat Panathinaikos for the third time in as many games so far this season, this time triumphing by eight (77-69) for the Euroleague in Piraeus on Friday.

An improved Panathinaikos from the first two games against its eternal rival remained second-best to the Reds but stayed close in the score almost throughout the game.

Olympiakos is joint second at the halfway point of the regular season with 10 wins from 15 games after downing Fenerbahce at home on Thursday, while Panathinaikos gave away a game it should have won at UNICS Kazan on Friday for its sixth loss.