Friday Frappé: Consistently Inconsistent
In this week’s edition of the Friday Frappé, AGONAsport’s Peter Katsiris looks at the struggle with consistency Olympiacos and Panathinaikos face in the EuroLeague.
Watch LIVE GREEK TV including full GREEK SPORTS coverage with Go Greek TV!
As the EuroLeague season approaches the end of Round 6, the struggles Olympiacos and Panathinaikos will face on the continent this season have already been prominent through the early rounds of action. Once locks to reach the knockout round, the success of Greek clubs in the EuroLeague appears to be at risk though the signs of such a struggle aren’t something new.
Panathinaikos’ recent defeat of Anadolu Efes sees the Trifylli sport a 3-3 record at this juncture, while Olympiacos can match that feat through six rounds with a win over Maccabi Tel Aviv later this evening.
In the case of the Trifylli, an opening day win over Crvena Zvezda was seemingly a good benchmark for the Athenians to tee-up a strong European campaign in hopes of ending a long hiatus from the Final Four. Those goals were quickly put into perspective with back-to-back defeats against ASVEL Villeurbanne and AX Armani Exchange Milan.
Panathinaikos did recover with a split of results against Russian sides Zenit St. Petersburg and Khimki before the defeat of Efes seemingly put the Greek champions back on track for the time being.
While Panathinaikos did suffer some narrow defeats in that stretch, particularly against ASVEL and Milan, the inconsistency in the team’s performances are the main factor that has contributed to the club’s mediocre record thus far.
It’s a similar case for Olympiacos who, despite their roster’s sole focus on EuroLeague duties, have struggled in fixtures they seemingly were expected to win. The rocky start against ASVEL meant the Erythrolefki starting their European calendar with a loss, which also spelt the end of the road for head coach David Blatt.
An improved performance against Valencia was supposed to signal a fresh start for the Piraeus giants, but inconsistency was again at fault as Olympiacos followed that result with back-to-back defeats against Zenit and Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.
What now might serve as a reboot for the club is perhaps the recent triumph in Russia against reigning champions CSKA Moscow as Brandon Paul and Kevin Punter steered the club to a massive win in the Russian capital.
Only time will tell if Olympiacos and Panathinaikos can sort out of their difficulties on the European scene, though if a fix doesn’t come sooner than later then perhaps it will be another disappointing season for Greek basketball.
