CSKA Moscow, Panathinaikos and Brose Baskets win – Euroleague Week 1 Group B Roundup
Three games took place in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Group B during the first week of the regular season. Here is a brief review of the games:
CSKA Moscow 87 - Zalgiris Kaunas 74
Five players reached double figures as CSKA Moscow cruised to an 87-74 victory over Zalgiris Kaunas in the first game of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague season 2011.
Alexey Shved racked up a Euroleague career-high 19 points on 7 for 8 shooting from free throw line while Andrei Kirilenko aka the AK-47 made a solid comeback in the league after a 10-year absence with a double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds. Milos Teodosic added 16 points, eight assists and four rebounds while Darjus Lavarinovic ended with 12 points in the victory. Nenad Krstic also had 11 points and six rebounds for Moscow.
DeJuan Collins led Kaunas with 18 points on 3 for 4 shooting from three-point range and Sonny Weems contributed 16 points and six rebounds.
Moscow were at the top of their game from the onset. They outscored Zalgiris 25-16 in the first quarter and 19-15 in the second quarter to take a 13-point lead, 44-31, into halftime. CSKA widened their lead to 67-52 after third quarter and maintained their double-digit lead in the entire fourth quarter to seal the victory.
Panathinaikos 98 – Unicaja 77
The Turkish Airlines Euroleague Defending Champion Panathinaikos opened this season with an impressive 98-77 victory over Unicaja on October 20 in Athens.
Seven Panathinaikos player reached double figures on the night. Reigning MVP Dimitris Diamantidis headed the team with 17 points, seven assists and three steals. Romain Sato had 16 points while Kostas Kaimakoglou and Steven Smith added 13 points each. Nick Calathes tallied 12 points and Sarunas Jasikevicius posted 10 points in the victory.
Kristaps Valters and Hrvoje Peric came off the bench with 13 points each in the losing effort. Nenad Sinanovic contributed 11 points while Earl Rowland finished with 10 points for Unicaja.
Smith scored 10 of his points in the first quarter as Panathinaikos carried a 25-16 lead after 10 minutes. Unicaja made a marginal comeback in the second quarter and trimmed their deficit to three at halftime. Panathinaikos changed the game in the third quarter and pushed their lead to 16 points, 77-61.
The Greens’ lead quickly ballooned to 25 points, 94-69, after Kostas Kaimakoglou converted on a three-point play with three minutes remaining. They were never threatened after that and walked away with first victory of this season.
Brose Baskets 96 - KK Zagreb 65
The two-time reigning German champions Brose Baskets came up with a big win on October 20, routing Croatian KK Zagreb 96-65 in their first game of the 2011-12 Turkish Airlines Euroleague season at the Stechert Arena.
P.J. Tucker led Brose with a game-high 20 points while Casey Jacobsen and Marcus Slaughter each added 16 points apiece in the victory. Predrag Suput also added 15 points and Julius Jenkins contributed 10 points.
Krunoslav Simon paced Zagreb with 14 points and six rebounds while Diante Garrett totalled 11 points. Mario Kasun and Sean May added 10 points each in the loss.
Brose Baskets controlled the game from the beginning, leading 26-16 after one and 52-30 at halftime. Zagreb never got to grip with the offensive battery of the German and eventually succumbed to a 31 point loss.
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