Greek Media Slam Officials After Kendrick Nunn Ejection

Greek media sharply criticized the refereeing crew after Panathinaikos’ 86:93 victory over Olympiacos in Game 4 of the Greek playoff final series, a win that came after two overtimes and tied the series at 2:2, preventing the Reds from Piraeus from celebrating the title. The game was remembered not only for its drama but also for the refereeing controversy that surrounded it.

In Greek media, harsh criticism was directed at the officials. The Greek outlet SDNA wrote: “The referees killed Kendrick Nunn with two controversial whistles that led to his disqualification on five fouls.” The calls against the American sparked major anger on the visitors’ side.

Panathinaikos coach Ergin Ataman said: “We played extraordinarily and fought until the end. We did not let Olympiacos celebrate the championship. Now it is our turn to win the title at their home. We lost Kendrick Nunn and Grant on five fouls, and that made the game even more difficult. Everyone gave everything, some played more than 40 minutes. We are ready to take the championship. I hope everything will be fair there, and then we will do it. Olympiacos is a great team, but we are too.”

In addition, Dimitris Giannakopoulos, Panathinaikos’ owner, received a heavy punishment after the events of the final series against Olympiacos. The Greek league’s disciplinary court barred him from all arenas in the country for six months and fined him 50,000 euros. Panathinaikos itself was also fined 50,000 euros because of the owner’s conduct, bringing the total financial penalties to 100,000 euros.

The incident took place in Game 2 of the final series, when about 33 seconds before the end of the second quarter, Giannakopoulos came down from his seat area beside the court, approached the referees in what was considered a threatening manner, protested at them and also hurled insulting remarks. Following the incident, the game was stopped for four minutes until security personnel removed him from the court.

On the red side, things were not calm either. Tyler Dorsey fouled out and had a particularly tense moment with coach Giorgos Barzokas. The forward left on fouls early in the fourth quarter, Olympiacos’ frontcourt rotation was hurt, and Milutinov was left to carry the load under the basket in the decisive stages.