Olympiakos added fresh interest to the series for the league crown on Wednesday scoring their first win over Panathinaikos in the process with a 76-68 score at home.
The Reds have therefore reduced the arrears to 2-1 and can still hope of a full comeback in the best-of-five series.
Playing in a hot atmosphere at the Peace and Friendship Stadium at Faliro, Olympiakos had an impressive Yiannis Bourousis and an effective Vassilis Spanoulis to overturn Panathinaikos’s leads in the second and third period and avert a sweep by the European champions.
Unlike in the other games of the series, Olympiakos managed to contain the Panathinaikos attack in the second half and forced Panathinaikos to make one error after another in the fourth period, turning a five-point deficit into an eight-point victory in the end. Panathinaikos finished the game with 16 errors against Olympiakos’s 11.
With more action under the basket through Bourousis, Andreas Glyniadakis and Yiannis Mavrokefalidis, Olympiakos earned more than twice as many free throws as Panathinaikos (24 against nine).
This came just three days after the Reds had protested at a harsh treatment by the referees in Game 2, when Panathinaikos got 31 free throws and Olympiakos nine.
The hosts had a great start to the game, once again, to lead 22-14 and end the first period five points ahead (24-19).
Drew Nicholas put Panathinaikos in front with three three-pointers, but captain Dimitris Diamantidis could not find the target from outside the 6.75-metre zone. The Greens ended the first half leading by seven (46-39).
Usually the third period of each game is the best for Panathinaikos, but a passionate Olympiakos covered the distance almost immediately to regain the upper hand by two points (58-56).
The ding-dong match continued, with Panathinaikos storming into the fourth period to lead 66-61 with a 10-3 partial score, but that was the end of the champions’ joy on the night.
Olympiakos closed ranks and started shooting successfully from a distance, while holding Panathinaikos in defence to perform an 11-0 partial score and lead 72-66, taking the match beyond the visitors.
Repeated three-point efforts by Panathinaikos could not find the target allowing Olympiakos to celebrate their first win in the finals and take the series to a fourth game at the Olympic Sports Hall on Sunday.
One of the keys to Olympiakos’s win was containing Diamantidis, who only made three out of 10 field goals on the night.
Bourousis scored 16 points for Olympiakos and Spanoulis added another 13, while Mike Batiste got 15 and Nicholas 13 for Panathinaikos.
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