Andrei Kirilenko leads as CSKA Moscow beat Zalgiris Kaunas 87-74 in Euroleague Regular Season Opener
Five players reached double figures as CSKA Moscow defeated Zalgiris Kaunas 87-74 in the opening game of the 2011-12 Turkish Airlines Euroleague season at the Zalgiris Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania.
The Russians were led by Alexey Shved, who erupted with a career-high 19 points. Utah Jazz star Andrei Kirilenko made a brilliant comeback in the league after a 10-year absence and registered a double-double. The 30-year-old Russian
racked up 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in 32 minutes of action. Kirilenko also dished out five assists and blocked four shots.
“It was a bit unusual to play in the Euroleague again.” Kirilenko said after the game, “Some rules are different, but I think I got used to it pretty quick."
Milos Teodosic had 16 points, eight assists and four rebounds, Darjus Lavarinovic pitched in with12 points while Nenad Krstic contributed 11 points and six rebounds for Moscow.
For Zalgiris, DeJuan Collins produced a titanic effort. He put up 18 points on 3 for 4 shooting from downtown while Sonny Weems, the Toronto Raptors star, totalled 16 points and six rebounds.
The game was won on the defensive end. Moscow never allowed Zalgiris any free looks and challenged every free ball. Kirilenko commented on his team’s outstanding defence after the game,
"Defence was definitely the key to this game. We were really focused on defence. When we play good defence, offense comes along. Our defence was good, we controlled the game and this is why we won.”
The Russian team came were aggressive right from the start and with two minutes to go in the first quarter, they were leading by double-digits at 20-10. DeJuan Collins stemmed the leakage with four points and Mindaugas Kuzminskas
followed him with a lay-up to cut Moscow’s lead to four, 20-16.
CSKA however took control late with five consecutive points, taking a 25-16 lead into the second.
In the second quarter, the Kaunas looked a different side completely and reeled off an 11-3 run to make it a one point game at 28-27. Moscow however tightened the screws after that and restored a substantial lead (41-34) at the
break.
The trend continued in the third quarter as Kaunas did not get any closer than 11 points, and the teams entered the fourth quarter with a 67-52 advantage. Zalgiris struggled to keep pace even in the fourth, allowing the Russians
an easy win.
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