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Olympiacos might be without 4 players

Printezis, Lojeski, Mantzaris and Young and all questionable. PAO don't really have such problems. Gist is out from before, there is no room for Nichols on the team. Oly won 3 out of 4 meetings of this season but the most important Cup meeting was won by the home team

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Panathinaikos and Olympiacos are to meet for the 5th time this season and it's not even February. Oly won three previous games but the most important Cup game was won by PAO away. Their first league head-to-head was a one-sided win and the only game they played at Panathinaikos' floor was extremely close. 

This game is very important because it's pretty clear that another win would secure Oly the top spot ahead of the playoffs. They are 14-0 now and today's win would make PAO unable to make up for the deficit until the start of the playoffs. Even if PAO win today, it's hard to believe they will win by more than 25 (Oly won the first H2H by 25), which means Oly will probably stay ahead even if they lose. 

PAO have just one home defeat this season - to Oly in Euroleague. They are on a 9-game winning run home. Last week, they first beat Barcelona and then lost to Zvezda on Thursday. Zvezda took a 16-0 lead at the start but PAO managed to get back in the game. Zvezda, however, did better in the very end. 

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- The first 5-6 minutes which we did horribly were crucial. The end was also bad. We knew that the atmosphere and everything else would make it tough but I think our team is experienced enough to play in such conditions - coach Pascual said. 

His team had a lot more 3s, more rebounds but also a lot more turnovers. They forced Zvezda into just 8 of those. Point guard Calathes had a bad night and got limited to 2 points and recorded 4 turnovers.  Bourousis, Singleton and Feldeine did badly too. Gabriel did best with 23 points and 5 three-pointers. James finished with 19 points, Rivers added 12.

Pascual was not at Panathinaikos the first time they played Oly. It was that defeat that saw the previous coach get the sack.

- The Olympiacos games are always special. We proved that we can beat them in the Cup. The fans will be the right incentive for us. We'll do our best - Gabriel said. He was acquired mid-season to stand in for the injured Gist. 

Oly had one day less to prepare. They first lost to Milano on Wednesday and then beat Brose on Friday. They were in control for the entire Brose game but the tougher Germans hit 4 straight three pointers and got just 2 points short in the last quarter but Oly ended the game properly. 

- Our defense was crucial. We controlled the game through defense and really got better in that segment. Getting back after a very bad performance on Wednesday was very important - Sfairopoulos said.

His team had 16 rebounds more, but they also had 16 turnovers. They had 13 assits and bad three point percentage (4-for-15). Center Birch hit 15 points and 14 rebounds, Spanoulis added 15 points and 6 assits, Lojeski added 13 points.

Printezis didn't play on Friday, Lojeski and Mantzaris got injured and none of them practiced on Sunday. Prinzesis was the key player with 18 points in the first H2H, Lojeski followed suit with 15. Hackett has been out from before. Young was added to the injury list after yesterday's practice session. That means 4 of their players are questionable.

- We have a very tough task ahead. We will have to do our very best to win. We met a few times this season. We have injury struggles but we never use that as a pretext. We need to try and do well, fight for each possession and rebound - Green wrote on his blog after being rather invisible in the Brose game.