Top-10 chasing Zvezda (10-19) will hope to end a five-game losing run against a Panathinaikos team (18-11) eager to bounce back from a defeat in last week's Greek derby.
Game Notes: Zvezda vs. Panathinaikos
Zvezda is hit by injuries in the backcourt, with Milos Teodosic and Nemanja Nedovic recently sidelined and Yago Dos Santos reportedly unlikely to play this week. That could open an opportunity to shine for the Greens' healthy contingent of guards, including deep threats Marius Grigonis and Kendrick Nunn, who hit 17 points on 4-of-5 triples at Olympiacos last week. Panathinaikos claimed a comfortable victory, 82-65, when the teams met in Round 17, paced by 15 points from Dinos Mitoglou, who came back to form in the derby by ending a five-game run of single-digit scoring.
- Last season in Belgrade, Panathinaikos beat Zvezda 75-77 with Marius Grigonis netting 17 points.
- Zvezda's last win over Panathinaikos came in November 2021, an 81-48 drubbing. Those 48 points mark the fewest the Greens have scored in a regular season game this century.
- In March 2021, Howard Sant-Roos matched a Panathinaikos club record with 7 steals in an 82-86 home loss against Zvezda.
- Panathinaikos guard Luca Vildoza played for Crvena Zvezda last season and earned December MVP honors there.
- Panathinaikos big man Mathias Lessort played for Crvena Zvezda during the 2017-18 season. He was a teammate of current Zvezda players Dejan Davidovac, Branko Lazic and Stefan Lazarevic.
- Lessort had a career-high 7 offensive rebounds playing for Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade against Crvena Zvezda in December of last season.
- Nemanja Nedovic spent two seasons with Panathinaikos, from 2020 to 2022. He averaged 15.1 points in 51 EuroLeague appearances over two seasons with the club.
- Panathinaikos guard Kostas Sloukas played under current Zvezda coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos at Olympiacos Piraeus during the 2014-15 season. They reached the EuroLeague championship game together that season.
- Panathinaikos forward Ioannis Papapetrou played under coach Sfairopoulos at Olympiacos for three seasons, from 2015 to 2018. They reached the 2017 EuroLeague championship game together.
- Crvena Zvezda point guard Milos Teodosic and his Panathinaikos counterpart Kostas Sloukas were teammates at Olympiacos Piraeus in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. Sloukas made his EuroLeague debut there in 2009.
- Sloukas was a teammate of Zvezda center Joel Bolomboy last season at Olympiacos. They reached the 2023 championship game together.
- Panathinaikos guard Marius Grigonis and Bolomboy were teammates at CSKA Moscow during the 2021-22 season.
- Grigonis has been a teammate of Zvezda forward Rokas Giedraitis on the Lithuanian national team.
- Giedraitis set his career-high in index rating with 35 playing for Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in an 82-97 road win over Panathinaikos in March 2021.
- Zvezda forward Luka Mitrovic had 3 steals, which is tied for his career-best, against Panathinaikos in April 2015.