Montepaschi Siena stunned Olympiacos 65-82 on Thursday night at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus, Greece, to tie their best-of-five Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs series at 1-1. After the Reds thoroughly dominated Game 1 in a record-setting performance, Montepaschi bounced back in Game 2 with a spirited effort. The win stopped cold an Olympiacos seven-game winning streak in Euroleague play and gave Montepaschi the home-court advantage with the series shifting to Italy for two games next week where the Italian champs could potentially close out the series with two wins. Malik Hairston paced the winners with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Rimantas Kaukenas scored 14 and Milovan Rakovic added 12 in a commendable team effort on the defensive end.
Away win as well for Valencia in the Spanish derby in Madrid and a tie in the series too. Omar cook led the winners with a 5/5 from down town and 20 total points. It’s 1-1 as well between Barcelona and Panathinaikos as the Greeks managed to recover from a 16-point deficit and win it in the house of the European champs. Romain Sato paced the Greens with 18 points while Diamantidis added 17. Finally to make it four away wins in as many games and all series tied at 1-1, Jeremy Pargo sank the winning jumper with 1.3 seconds to play for Maccabi in Vitoria (81-83). David Blu registered a season high 18 points while Pargo gathered 13 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.