Panathinaikos OPAP Athens vs. Olympiacos Piraeus
· These two archrivals have met nine times this century in the EuroLeague and Olympiacos holds a 5-4 edge. They split road wins last season, including Olympiacos pulling out an 85-87 overtime decision in Athens when Vassilis Spanoulis and Georgios Printezis scored 15 points apiece.
· Panathinaikos and Olympiacos met in the 1994 EuroLeague semifinals in Tel Aviv, Israel, which was their first showdown in European competitions. Olympiacos downed Panathinaikos 77-72 led by Zarko Paspalj's 22 points.
· Panathinaikos and Olympiacos returned to the Final Four in 1995 and squared off in the semifinals in Zaragoza, Spain. Olympiacos prevailed again, defeating Panathinaikos 52-58 behind 27 points from Eddie Johnson.
· Panathinaikos and Olympiacos played each other in the 2009 EuroLeague semifinal in Berlin, Germany. In a game that went down to the final shot, Panathinaikos edged Olympiacos 82-84 behind 20 points from Nikola Pekovic.
· Vassilis Spanoulis played four seasons with Panathinaikos – the 2005-06 season and from 2007 through 2010 – before he joined archrival Olympiacos. Spanoulis helped Panathinaikos win the 2009 EuroLeague title and many Greek League and Cup titles. During his time with the Greens was a teammate of Nick Calathes and Ian Vougioukas.
· Olympiacos forward Kostas Papanikolaou played under current Panathinaikos head coach Xavi Pascual at Barcelona during the 2013-14 season. Together they won the Spanish League title.
· Panathinaikos guard Keith Langford played under current Olympiacos head coach David Blatt at Maccabi Tel Aviv during the 2011-12 season.
· After five seasons in Olympiacos, his first professional team, Ioannis Papapetrou of Panathinaikos will face his former team for the first time in his EuroLeague career in this Athens derby. He played in 114 EuroLeague games for Olympiacos and reached the EuroLeague championship games in 2015 and 2017.
· Olympiacos center Georgios Bogris played at Panathinaikos for two seasons, from 2009 to 2011, and was a teammate of Vougioukas and Calathes. He helped the team win the 2011 EuroLeague title.
· Panathinaikos guard Nikos Pappas was a teammate of current Olympiacos players Dimitrios Agravanis, Georgios Bogris and a young Vassilis Toliopoulos at Panionios Athens during the 2012-13 season.
· Panathinaikos center Ian Vougioukas played for Olympiacos in 2008-09 and was a teammate of Georgios Printezis. He was also a teammate of Printezis, Spanoulis, Papanikolaou and Vangelis Mantzaris on the Greek national team.
· Panathinaikos swingman Matt Lojeski spent four seasons playing for Olympiacos Piraeus, from 2013 to 2017. He helped the team reach the EuroLeague championship game in 2015 and 2017 and win Greek League titles in 2015 and 2016. He has been a teammate of many current Olympiacos players.
· Panathinaikos guard Lukas Lekavicius had a EuroLeague career-high 8 assists playing for Zalgiris Kaunas against Olympiacos in December 2016.
· Olympiacos guard Vangelis Mantzaris posted his career high in rebounds with 9 against Panathinaikos in April 2014.
· Stephane Lasme matched his career high in index rating with 25 against Olympiacos in February 2014.
· These two archrivals have met nine times this century in the EuroLeague and Olympiacos holds a 5-4 edge. They split road wins last season, including Olympiacos pulling out an 85-87 overtime decision in Athens when Vassilis Spanoulis and Georgios Printezis scored 15 points apiece.
· Panathinaikos and Olympiacos met in the 1994 EuroLeague semifinals in Tel Aviv, Israel, which was their first showdown in European competitions. Olympiacos downed Panathinaikos 77-72 led by Zarko Paspalj's 22 points.
· Panathinaikos and Olympiacos returned to the Final Four in 1995 and squared off in the semifinals in Zaragoza, Spain. Olympiacos prevailed again, defeating Panathinaikos 52-58 behind 27 points from Eddie Johnson.
· Panathinaikos and Olympiacos played each other in the 2009 EuroLeague semifinal in Berlin, Germany. In a game that went down to the final shot, Panathinaikos edged Olympiacos 82-84 behind 20 points from Nikola Pekovic.
· Vassilis Spanoulis played four seasons with Panathinaikos – the 2005-06 season and from 2007 through 2010 – before he joined archrival Olympiacos. Spanoulis helped Panathinaikos win the 2009 EuroLeague title and many Greek League and Cup titles. During his time with the Greens was a teammate of Nick Calathes and Ian Vougioukas.
· Olympiacos forward Kostas Papanikolaou played under current Panathinaikos head coach Xavi Pascual at Barcelona during the 2013-14 season. Together they won the Spanish League title.
· Panathinaikos guard Keith Langford played under current Olympiacos head coach David Blatt at Maccabi Tel Aviv during the 2011-12 season.
· After five seasons in Olympiacos, his first professional team, Ioannis Papapetrou of Panathinaikos will face his former team for the first time in his EuroLeague career in this Athens derby. He played in 114 EuroLeague games for Olympiacos and reached the EuroLeague championship games in 2015 and 2017.
· Olympiacos center Georgios Bogris played at Panathinaikos for two seasons, from 2009 to 2011, and was a teammate of Vougioukas and Calathes. He helped the team win the 2011 EuroLeague title.
· Panathinaikos guard Nikos Pappas was a teammate of current Olympiacos players Dimitrios Agravanis, Georgios Bogris and a young Vassilis Toliopoulos at Panionios Athens during the 2012-13 season.
· Panathinaikos center Ian Vougioukas played for Olympiacos in 2008-09 and was a teammate of Georgios Printezis. He was also a teammate of Printezis, Spanoulis, Papanikolaou and Vangelis Mantzaris on the Greek national team.
· Panathinaikos swingman Matt Lojeski spent four seasons playing for Olympiacos Piraeus, from 2013 to 2017. He helped the team reach the EuroLeague championship game in 2015 and 2017 and win Greek League titles in 2015 and 2016. He has been a teammate of many current Olympiacos players.
· Panathinaikos guard Lukas Lekavicius had a EuroLeague career-high 8 assists playing for Zalgiris Kaunas against Olympiacos in December 2016.
· Olympiacos guard Vangelis Mantzaris posted his career high in rebounds with 9 against Panathinaikos in April 2014.
· Stephane Lasme matched his career high in index rating with 25 against Olympiacos in February 2014.
Game Facts - Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
Roster
Evangelos Sakellariou is the only player on the Panathinaikos roster without previous EuroLeague experience.
Streaks
Keith Langford saw his streak of 34 consecutive EuroLeague appearances with at least 10 points scored snapped last week.
Lukas Lekavicius has made 21 consecutive free throws in EuroLeague games.
Nick Calathes has collected at least 1 steal in 15 of his last 16 EuroLeague games.
Matt Lojeski has made at least 1 three-pointer in each of his last five EuroLeague games.
Rankings
Calathes leads the league in assists this season with 9.0 per game.
Nick Calathes led the league in assists last season with 8.03 per game and in steals with 1.7 per game. He also ranked first in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.55).
Records/Milestones
Stephane Lasme is in sixth place on the all-time shot-blocking charts with 166 career rejections. Alex Tyus of Maccabi Tel Aviv is in fifth place with 178.
Calathes is 11th in EuroLeague history with 764 career assists. Pablo Prigioni (804) is 10th.
Calathes is ranked 13th on the all-time EuroLeague steals charts with 219. Jamon Gordon (220) is 12th.
Game Facts - Olympiacos Piraeus
Roster
Zach LeDay and Nigel Williams-Goss are the only players on the Olympiacos roster who entered the season without previous EuroLeague experience.
Rankings
Nikola Milutinov is tied for the league lead in rebounding through five rounds with 8.0 per game.
Milutinov ranked second in the league in true shooting percentage last season at 67.55%.
Janis Strelnieks is ranked fifth on the EuroLeague all-time charts in free-throw accuracy at 91.19%.
Sasha Vezenkov is eighth on the all-time charts in career two-point shooting at 64.8%.
Records/Milestones
Vassilis Spanoulis is the EuroLeague career leader in assists with 1,318.
Spanoulis is second in competition history in scoring with 3,790 points. The recently-retired Juan Carlos Navarro tops the charts with 4,152 points.
Spanoulis is also fourth in three-pointers made with 418. He needs 3 more to catch Gianluca Basile for third place.
Georgios Printezis is ranked 10th on the EuroLeague all-time rebounding charts with 1,082 career boards. He needs 35 more to catch Mike Batiste for ninth place.
Vangelis Mantzaris needs 3 more three-pointers to reach the 200 milestone for his EuroLeague career.