EuroLeague Round 5 Reactions: Panathinaikos and Olympiacos are off to slow starts

Panathinaikos captured their seventh EuroLeague title last season after almost a decade of being out of contention. Olympiacos responded with notable investments in the summer, and Panathinaikos added to their championship-winning squad as they knew defending this title would be harder than the one they had just won. For EuroLeague’s 25th anniversary season, they couldn’t ask for anything better than the Greek rivals being at the peak of their powers. 

The first five games of the EuroLeague season have yet to follow the plan. Panathinaikos is 3-2, and Olympiacos is 2-3. It’s early, but expectations aren’t being met. One of the losses was to Real Madrid, on the road, and Los Blancos were in a must-win scenario after their poor start to the season. That’d be acceptable if they hadn’t lost to newcomers and EuroCup champions Paris basketball the week before. 

Panathinaikos went on the road to Istanbul to face Fenerbahce in Round 5. Fenerbahce is expected to contend for this season’s title as well and was seeking revenge after last season’s loss to Panathinaikos in the Final Four. The Greens were in control for most of this game, leading from the early stages and maintaining control for most of the game, rarely letting the lead get below eight. Fenerbahce battled and took their first lead with seven minutes to go. It looked like Ergin Ataman’s squad was going to let another game slip away, but then Kostas Sloukas - who had been quiet for most of the game - stepped up with game-winning shotmaking. 

Sloukas, who won a EuroLeague championship with Fenerbahce in 2017, continued his career trend of bringing pain to his former clubs. Panathinaikos coming out of this one with victory will go a long way towards silencing critics of their rocky start. Ataman also featured a lineup in this one of Sloukas, Kendrick Nunn, Lorenzo Brown, Jerian Grant, and Mathias Lessort. 

The four guards together is something basketball sickos have yearned for, and it’s a lineup made possible by Grant’s versatility on both sides of the ball. Calling Grant the most underrated player in the EuroLeague would be untrue, plenty understand how good he is. A better label is the most malleable star in Europe. He could be a number one option for plenty of teams, but also knows how to scale down and be a third, fourth, or even fifth option. He’s everything a contending team desires. 

Olympiacos' start to the season is not what they desired, to say the least. Their Round 5 loss to Bayern Munich is only the latest disappointment. Their biggest issue through five games has been their long-time glue guy, Thomas Walkup. The American-born Greek-naturalized guard has been integral to the Reds' success over the past few years, but his unreliable jump shot has stalled out Georgios Bartzokas’ offense before and over the past year plus, his offensive woes seem to have gotten worse. 

The three-pointer has been manageable, but his mid-range game and finishing have been detrimental to the team, and he’s even had some Ben Simmons-style moments where he appears to not even be looking at the rim. Bartzokas loves Walkup. What he does on the defensive end as a point guard is remarkable - he can switch everything and lock up opposing teams' stars when he wants to. He helps rebound and is a reliable floor general who doesn’t let his teams waste possessions. But when his individual offensive output is as bad as it has been to start the season, you need to consider shakeups. 

Luca Vildoza, one of Olympiacos’ many offseason acquisitions who came over from Panathinaikos, has been fantastic off the bench. Vildoza has always been streaky, and should he be elevated to a starting role there would likely be a drop in his play. But he can shoot and he can score, defenses can’t ignore him and provide extra attention to the likes of Evan Fournier and Sasha Vezenkov as they can with Walkup. Vildoza sparked a run for Olympiacos that built a double-digit lead in the second quarter against Bayern Munich. He didn’t play in the third quarter, Walkup did, and Olympiacos lost the quarter by nine. It set the table for Bayern to take the lead and eventually get the win. 

Data doesn’t get simpler than that, and while Bartzokas’ trust in a player like Walkup is understandable, he is coaching for his life over the next three games. Olympiacos will host Real Madrid and Barcelona this week, and then face Panathinaikos at OAKA in Round 8 for the first Greek Derby of the EuroLeague season. They lost to Panathinaikos in the league over the weekend, adding insult to injury to the Reds' slow start. If they don’t turn it around by Round 8, the panic button could be pressed whether it’s deserved or not.