Panathinaikos to protest over officiating after loss vs. Baskonia / News - Basketnews.com

Panathinaikos decided to file an official protest to the EuroLeague.

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Panathinaikos Athens suffered their third defeat in the last five EuroLeague games on Friday night, losing against Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, 95-90.

Player of the Game EFF 18 Markus Howard Points 24 Accuracy 8-18 Rebounds 3 Assists 2

Referees -- Matej Boltauzer, Tomislav Hordov, and Tomasz Trawicki -- made a few debatable decisions throughout the game, and PAO had serious complaints about the level of refereeing, deciding to file an official protest to the EuroLeague, according to George Kouvaris of Gazzetta.gr.

The focal point of their protest is an important fourth-quarter call. Dwayne Bacon knocked down a corner three to reduce the PAO deficit to eight points (75-83), but the basket was later called off after an official review.

With 6:16 remaining in the fourth quarter, the referees went to the monitor and punished Marius Grigonis with an unsportsmanlike foul before Bacon's three-pointer.

Vanja Marinkovic nailed two free throws and the score became 85-72 for Baskonia. Instead of Panathinaikos cutting their deficit to eight points, Baskonia's lead reached a 13-point mark.

The Greek powerhouse urges that there was no foul and no whistle ahead of Bacon's triple, therefore the match officials should have counted the three-pointer and could not return to the previous play (Grigonis' foul against Marinkovic).

The whole sequence:

With Friday's defeat, which involved more controversial moments, PAO dropped to 8-15 and have only a small hope of squeezing into the Top 8.

The Greens share 15-17th places in the EuroLeague standings. The Greek team is four wins away from the playoffs zone, with 11 games left to play in the regular season.

Game highlights:

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