After Two Overtimes, Panathinaikos Forces a Game 5 in the Final

After two overtimes, Panathinaikos forced a fifth game in Greece's heated championship series after beating Olympiacos 86-93, denying its bitter rival the chance to celebrate a title at home and leveling the series at 2-2. Olympiacos will host the decisive game in an attempt to defend its title and claim the 16th championship in its history, in a season in which it also won the EuroLeague. Panathinaikos, which won the final series 2-3 two years ago, will try to capture its 41st championship and complete a Greek double that could perhaps keep Ergin Ataman in his job.

In the absence of Kostas Sloukas and Cedi Osman, Kendrick Nunn caught fire and led Panathinaikos to a peak 20-29 lead during the second quarter. Olympiacos trimmed the gap, went into halftime trailing 40-34 and tightened its defense in the third quarter, in which it turned the game around and finished the period ahead 53-57. The margin grew to five in the closing minutes, but PAO did not give in and, with the crowd's support, managed to force a tie, as attempts from beyond the arc on both sides did not bring a decision and the game went to overtime.

Sasha Vezenkov put Olympiacos in a promising position at 74-79 inside the overtime, but Evan Fournier missed two free throws and the hosts came back again. They also had a chance to win, but Vassilis Toliopoulos missed a three-pointer at the buzzer and the derby went to a second overtime. T.J. Shorts scored seven straight to open the extra period and gave Panathinaikos an 81-85 lead. A Toliopoulos three-pointer stretched the advantage to eight, and there was no way back from there.

Nunn led PAO with 23 points, Shorts finished with 13, Nigel Hayes scored 12, Toliopoulos had 11 and Juancho Hernangomez added 8 points and 10 rebounds. Fournier scored 29 for Olympiacos and added 8 rebounds, Thomas Walkup scored 19 and Vezenkov finished with 14.

Overtime was also needed in the Spanish playoff semifinal, as Valencia took a 1-0 series lead over Badalona with an exciting 117-118 home win, after 105-105 at the end of 40 minutes. Jean Montero stood out for the winners with 27 points and 8 assists, while Cameron Taylor contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds. On the other side, Ricky Rubio led Badalona with 22 points and 11 assists, and Cameron Hunt and Jabari Parker added 19 points each.