2018–19 Greek Basket League

The 2018–19 Greek betshop.gr Basket League was the 79th season of the Greek Basket League, the top-tier level professional club basketball league in Greece. The season started on 7 October 2018, and ended on 15 June 2019. Panathinaikos OPAP won the Greek Basket League championship for a record 37th time, after beating Promitheas Patras 3–0 in the Finals.

Greek Basket League
Season	2018–19
Dates	7 October 2018 – 15 June 2019
Teams	14
Regular season
Season MVP	Nick Calathes
Finals
Champions	Panathinaikos OPAP
Runners-up	Promitheas Patras
Finals MVP	Matt Lojeski
Statistical leaders
Points Steve Burtt Jr. 493 Rebounds Sean Evans 221 Assists Nick Calathes 151 Index Rating Davion Berry 464
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

The season infamously featured a major feud between traditional rivals Panathinaikos and Olympiacos over refereeing decisions in the 2019 Greek Cup semifinals game between the two teams,^[1] which eventually culminated in Olympiacos also forfeiting their playoffs. Finally, Olympiacos withdrew from the championship.^[2]

Teams

Promotion and relegation

Relegated from the Greek betshop.gr Basket League 2017–18 season

Koroivos^[3] and Trikala Aries^[4] were relegated, after finishing in the last two places in the 2017–18 season.

Promoted from the A2 Basket League 2017–18 season

The first club that was promoted was Peristeri, which won its third A2 Basket League championship, after finishing with a 29–1 record, in the 2017–18 season.^[5] The second team to be promoted was Holargos, as the winners of the promotion play-offs.^[6] Holargos defeated Apollon Patras 3–0, in the finals of the play-offs.

Locations and arenas

Athens

Athens teams
AEK
Holargos
Panathinaikos
Panionios
Peristeri

Ifaistos

Aris
PAOK

Rethymno

Lavrio

Kolossos

Olympiacos

Kymi

Promitheas

Location of clubs for the 2018–19 Greek Basket League season.

Club	Location	Arena	Capacity	App.
AEK	Athens (Marousi)	OAKA Indoor Hall	19,250[7]	62
Aris	Thessaloniki	Alexandrio Melathron	5,138	65
Holargos	Athens (Cholargos)	Antonis Tritsis Indoor Hall	1,665	1
Ifaistos Lemnos	Myrina	Nikos Samaras Indoor Hall	1,260	1
Kolossos H Hotels	Rhodes	Venetoklio Indoor Hall	1,242[8]	13
Kymi	Chalkida	Tasos Kampouris Kanithou Indoor Hall	1,620	3
Lavrio Aegean Cargo	Lavrio	Lavrio Indoor Hall	1,700	4
Olympiacos	Piraeus	Peace and Friendship Stadium	12,000[9]	66
Panathinaikos OPAP	Athens (Marousi)	OAKA Indoor Hall	19,250[7]	69
Panionios	Athens (Nea Smyrni)	Sofia Befon Indoor Hall	1,204[10]	50
PAOK	Thessaloniki (Pylaia)	PAOK Sports Arena	8,500[11]	62
Peristeri Vikos Cola	Athens (Peristeri)	Peristeri Arena	4,000	23
Promitheas Patras	Patras	Dimitris Tofalos Arena	4,200	3
Rethymno Cretan Kings	Rethymno	Melina Merkouri Sports Arena	1,600	9

Personnel and sponsorship

Club	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Main shirt sponsor
AEK	Luca Banchi	Dušan Šakota	Fila	Betshop.gr
Aris	Ioannis Kastritis	Lefteris Bochoridis	Spalding	-
Holargos	Aris Lykogiannis	Toarlyn Fitzpatrick	BillyBro	BoConcept
Ifaistos Limnou	Sotiris Manolopoulos	Sotirios Manolopoulos	GSA Sport	-
Kolossos H Hotels	Stergios Koufos	Ioannis Georgallis	Fila	Aegean Airlines
Kymi	Isidoros Koutsos	Stavros Toutziarakis	Nickan	-
Lavrio Aegean Cargo	Christos Serelis	Michalis Perrakis	Athios	Advanced Hair Clinics
Olympiacos	David Blatt	Vassilis Spanoulis	Nike	bwin
Panathinaikos OPAP	Rick Pitino	Nick Calathes	Adidas	Pame Stoixima
Panionios	Vassilis Fragkias	Nikos Diplaros	Nickan	-
PAOK	Ilias Papatheodorou	Vangelis Margaritis	Erreà	Watt+Volt
Peristeri Vikos Cola	Argyris Pedoulakis	Panagiotis Vasilopoulos	Flex One	Vikos Cola
Promitheas Patras	Makis Giatras	Nikos Gkikas	Athios	Medfrigo
Rethymno Cretan Kings	Vangelis Ziagkos	Antreas Christodoulou	Nickan	-

Head coaching changes

Team	Outgoing Head Coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced with	Date of appointment
Panionios	Vangelis Alexandris	End of contract	18 May 2018[12]	Preseason	Thanasis Skourtopoulos	29 June 2018[13]
Ifaistos Limnou	Thanasis Skourtopoulos	End of contract	1 June 2018	Preseason	Sotiris Manolopoulos	8 June 2018[14]
AEK	Dragan Šakota	Promoted to General Manager	6 June 2018[15]	Preseason	Luca Banchi	1 July 2018[16]
Olympiacos	Ioannis Sfairopoulos	End of contract	18 June 2018[17]	Preseason	/ David Blatt	27 June 2018[18]
Panionios	Thanasis Skourtopoulos	Re-signed	28 August 2018[19]	Preseason	Chris Chougkaz	2 September 2018[20]
Panionios	Chris Chougkaz	Re-signed	30 October 2018[21]	11th (1-3)	Vassilis Fragkias	31 October 2018[22]
Panionios	Vassilis Fragkias	Re-signed	21 November 2018[23]	9th (2-4)	Nikos Oikonomou	24 November 2018[24]
Kolossos H Hotels	Nikos Vetoulas	Sacked	22 November 2018[25]	12th (1–5)	Kostas Flevarakis	1 December 2018[26]
Kymi	Ioannis Kastritis	Sacked	25 November 2018[27]	13th (1–6)	Isidoros Koutsos	26 November 2018[28]

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	AEK	26	18	8	2129	1995	+134	44	Advanced to playoffs
2	Peristeri Vikos Cola	26	17	9	2009	1977	+32	43[a]
3	Panathinaikos OPAP[b]	26	24	2	2151	1668	+483	43[a]
4	Promitheas Patras	26	16	10	2003	1907	+96	42
5	PAOK	26	15	11	1992	1955	+37	41
6	Olympiacos[c] (R)	26	23	3	2108	1708	+400	40
7	Ifaistos Limnou	26	13	13	1914	1995	−81	39
8	Holargos	26	12	14	1850	1899	−49	38
9	Aris	26	8	18	1811	1883	−72	34[d]
10	Rethymno Cretan Kings	26	8	18	1906	2053	−147	34[d]
11	Panionios	26	8	18	1950	2210	−260	34[d]
12	Kymi	26	8	18	1899	2100	−201	34[d]
13	Lavrio Aegean Cargo (R)	26	7	19	1997	2123	−126	33	Relegated to Greek A2 League
14	Kolossos H Hotels (R)	26	5	21	1958	2204	−246	31

Source: ESAKE
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Peristeri Vikos Cola and Panathinaikos OPAP finished tied with 43 points. The two clubs split their head to head season series 1–1. Peristeri won the head to head point differential in their two games against Panathinaikos OPAP by 3 points.
2. Panathinaikos OPAP did not receive a point for their forfeited loss to Kymi. As a punishment for forfeiting the game, Panathinaikos was deducted 6 points in the league standings.
3. Olympiacos did not receive a point for their forfeited loss to Panathinaikos OPAP. As a punishment, Olympiacos was deducted 8 points in the league standings.^[29][30]
4. Aris, Rethymno Cretan Kings, Panionios, and Kymi finished tied with 34 points. The tie breakers resulted with Aris in 9th place, Rethymno in 10th place, Panionios in 11th place, and Kymi in 12th place.

Results

Home \ Away	AEK	ARIS	HOL	IFA	KOL	KYMI	LAV	OLY	PAO	PNN	PAOK	PER	PRO	RET
AEK	—	81–73	73–63	83–69	94–79	96–92	83–64	67–76	72–104	73–62	91–71	96–70	83–62	82–62
Aris	77–81	—	58–59	65–54	75–81	95–60	84–70	64–68	70–84	79–56	58–62	62–68	66–65	81–87
Holargos	70–81	76–63	—	65–62	74–60	73–66	82–71	68–73	64–81	74–73	74–68	75–76	57–69	66–61
Ifaistos Limnou	74–87	73–64	72–70	—	82–76	81–74	80–76	53–73	62–84	86–64	80–79	77–73	82–67	77–80
Kolossos H Hotels	69–106	61–72	75–81	60–78	—	97–90	76–80	67–86	78–88	106–109	60–75	77–84	68–83	74–63
Kymi	67–78	75–57	57–66	90–83	91–86	—	89–88	74–77	62–87	92–82	73–90	56–87	86–82	77–84
Lavrio Aegean Cargo	94–100	70–73	76–69	96–76	74–70	86–68	—	76–81	55–80	90–60	64–77	83–55	73–85	93–94
Olympiacos	101–75	76–67	88–78	83–46	95–74	92–69	102–63	—	0–20	98–72	80–59	92–69	86–59	84–60
Panathinaikos OPAP	111–79	85–65	86–64	93–65	95–68	0–20	108–63	79–70	—	96–71	89–51	80–75	87–76	88–64
Panionios	78–74	70–66	90–110	76–93	88–80	89–93	101–91	65–101	67–88	—	69–73	77–75	60–74	88–72
PAOK	88–79	95–79	80–73	73–75	79–83	78–60	99–88	68–78	83–93	83–73	—	87–73	81–56	81–64
Peristeri Vikos Cola	83–80	81–61	71–62	89–81	73–70	94–93	87–78	81–76	80–72	74–71	83–65	—	79–86	80–64
Promitheas Patras	79–69	71–61	86–61	73–68	101–95	94–61	71–63	77–80	69–86	104–67	82–59	73–76	—	86–81
Rethymno Cretan Kings	57–66	74–76	83–76	82–85	93–67	78–64	72–77	58–92	75–87	65–72	78–88	83–73	72–73	—

Source: ESAKE
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Playoffs

The eight highest ranked teams in the regular season qualified for the playoffs. All series will be played with a 2–2–1 format.

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	AEK	2
	Holargos	1
					AEK	2
					Promitheas Patras	3
	Promitheas Patras	2
	PAOK	0
									Panathinaikos OPAP	3
									Promitheas Patras	0
	Peristeri Vikos Cola	2
	Ifaistos Limnou	1
					Peristeri Vikos Cola	0
					Panathinaikos OPAP	3			Third place
	Panathinaikos OPAP	w/o 1
	Olympiacos
									AEK	3
									Peristeri Vikos Cola	1

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
AEK	2–1	Holargos	84–62	72–88	88–75
Peristeri Vikos Cola	2–1	Ifaistos Limnou	84–81	71–77	74–64
Panathinaikos OPAP	w/o	Olympiacos	20–0	20–0	0
Promitheas Patras	2–0	PAOK	81–66	76–68	0

Semifinals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
AEK	2–3	Promitheas Patras	83–82	65–74	88–60	54–70	84–85
Peristeri Vikos Cola	0–3	Panathinaikos OPAP	68–91	66–86	75–82	0	0

Third-place series

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
AEK	3–1	Peristeri Vikos Cola	66–67	79–71	91–83	83–82	0

Finals

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
Panathinaikos OPAP	3–0	Promitheas Patras	103–77	92–80	111–77	0	0

¹ Olympiacos refused to participate in their playoff series against Panathinaikos over refereeing disputes.^[2]

Final standings

Pos	Team	Overall record			Qualification or Relegation
		Pld	W	L
1.	Panathinaikos	33	31	2	Qualification to the EuroLeague *Club qualified for EuroLeague by having a contract
2.	Promitheas Patras	36	21	15	Qualification to the EuroCup
3.	AEK Athens	38	25	13	Qualification to the Champions League *AEK declined EuroCup participation
4.	Peristeri	36	20	16	Qualification to the Champions League
5.	PAOK	28	15	13	Qualification to the Champions League
6.	Ifaistos Limnou	29	14	15
7.	Holargos	29	13	16	Relegation to the Greek A2 League
8.	Aris	26	8	18
9.	Rethymno	26	8	18
10.	Panionios	26	8	18
11.	Kymi	26	8	18	Relegation to the Greek A2 League
12.	Lavrio	26	7	19
13.	Kolossos Rodou	26	5	21
14.	Olympiacos[31][32]	27	23	4	Qualification to the EuroLeague *Club qualified for EuroLeague by having a contract

NOTES:

• Holargos was faced financial problems. The club's registered place in the top-tier Greek Basket League was purchased by Kolossos Rodou, which thus avoided being relegated.

• Kymi was faced financial problems. The club's registered place in the top-tier Greek Basket League was purchased by Lavrio, which thus avoided being relegated.

• Olympiacos was relegated on 22 May 2019, following a meeting of the Hellenic Basketball Clubs Association's Board of Directors.^[2] This was due to the club refusing to play in its playoff series against Panathinaikos, which marked its third forfeited game of the season, and which resulted in an automatic relegation, per league rules. The league also stripped the team of all of its season wins, as a further punishment.^[33]

Awards

All official awards of the 2018–19 Greek Basket League.

Greek League MVP

Pos.	Player	Team
PG	Nick Calathes	Panathinaikos

Greek League Finals MVP

Pos.	Player	Team
SF	Matt Lojeski	Panathinaikos

All-Greek League Team

Pos.	Player	Team
PG	Nick Calathes	Panathinaikos
SG	Davion Berry	Panionios
SF	Ioannis Papapetrou	Panathinaikos
PF	Panagiotis Vasilopoulos	Peristeri
C	Nikola Milutinov	Olympiacos

Best Coach

Pos.	Player	Team
HD	Makis Giatras	Apollon Patras

Best Defender

Pos.	Player	Team
SF	Howard Sant-Roos	AEK

Best Young Player

Pos.	Player	Team
PG	Zois Karampelas	Peristeri

Most Improved Player

Pos.	Player	Team
C	Dimitris Kaklamanakis	Lavrio

Most Popular Player

Pos.	Player	Team
PG	Nick Calathes	Panathinaikos

Most Spectacular Player

Pos.	Player	Team
SF	Thanasis Antetokounmpo	Panathinaikos

Statistical leaders

The Greek Basket League counts official stats leaders by stats totals, and not by per game averages. It also counts the total stats for both regular season combined.

Performance index rating Pos Player Club PIR 1 Davion Berry Panionios 464 2 Steve Burtt Jr. Rethymno 458 3 Nikola Milutinov Olympiacos 448 4 Chris Horton Kymis 442 5 Sean Evans Ifaistos Limnou 440 Points Pos Player Club Total Points 1 Steve Burtt Jr. Rethymno 493 2 Davion Berry Panionios 463 3 Doron Lamb Lavrio 367 4 Vlado Janković Holargos 346 5 Vince Hunter AEK 346 Rebounds Pos Player Club Total Rebounds 1 Sean Evans Ifaistos Limnou 221 2 Chris Horton Kymis 210 3 Dimitris Mavroeidis Kolossos Rodou 185 4 Danny Agbelese Holargos 185 5 Gary McGhee Aris 180 Assists Pos Player Club Total Assists 1 Nick Calathes Panathinaikos 151 2 Nigel Williams-Goss Olympiacos 106 3 Tyrone Brazelton Ifaistos Limnou 102 4 Nikos Gkikas Promitheas Patras 95 5 JeQuan Lewis Kymis 91 Source:[34]

Clubs in European-wide competitions

Team	Competition	Progress
Olympiacos	EuroLeague	Regular season
Panathinaikos		Playoffs
AEK	Champions League	Quarterfinals
PAOK		Round of 16
Promitheas		Round of 16
Aris		Second qualifying round
Aris	FIBA Europe Cup	Regular season
Lavrio		First qualifying round

Clubs in World-wide competitions

Team	Competition	Progress
AEK	FIBA Intercontinental Cup	Final 4, 1st place

See also

• 2018–19 Greek Basketball Cup
• 2018–19 Greek A2 Basket League (2nd tier)