Olympiacos Piraeus gained local bragging rights by edging out eternal rival Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 81-78 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. Predictably, the game was closely contested with neither team leading by more than 8 points at any stage. Olympiacos led throughout the third quarter before Panathinaikos fought back to force several ties in the fourth. But Olympiacos finished stronger to earn a nervous victory as DeShaun Thomas missed a chance to force overtime on the final play. Shaq McKissic paced the host on his home debut, scoring 22 points including several spectacular dunks, while Kostas Papanikoalou scored 8 of his 12 points in the final quarter.
Taylor Rochestie added 11 points, Sasha Vezenkov scored 10, and Octavius Ellis grabbed 10 rebounds. Nick Calathes led Panathinaikos with 18 points, with Tyrese Rice (12), Dinos Mitoglou (11), Ioannis Papapetrou (10) and Georgios Papagiannis (10) also getting in double figures. Panathinaikos stayed in sixth place at 14-13, while Olympiacos improved to 12-15.
