Panathinaikos face a challenge to qualify as group winners from the Euroleague Top 16 after losing their Group E match against Caja Laboral 77-70 in Spain on Thursday.
The result leaves the two teams tied in first place with a 2-1 record after three games.
Drew Nicholas was the
Greens' top scorer with 15, Mike Batiste added 14 and Costas Tsartsaris netted 11.
Dimitris Diamantidis put in an impressive performance with 12 points and 11 assists but it was not enough for the Greens, as Fernando San Emeterio led the home side with 21 points and four assists in a tight game.
Greens' coach Zeljko Obradovic said that his team has to improve its concentration in the final minutes of its games.
"This one has been a very tough one, it all came to the last two minutes of the game," he said. "This is something we try to improve in practices as all the games we lost so far went in the same way; we lost them in the last minutes. We miss concentration and rhythm."
The result sets up the return game between the sides in Athens in two weeks' time as a crucial encounter.
SOURCE: SPORTINGREECE