Andrei Kirilenko aka AK-47 brings down the house with 17 points and 9 rebounds as CSKA Moscow hang tough down the stretch to edge out a 66-64 win over Panathinaikos in the first semifinal of the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague.
Await Olympiacos Piraeus in the final.
The first semifinal of the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague between the defending champions Panathinaikos and the resurgent CSKA Moscow was always billed to be a cracker, but even the most fanatic of the fans could not have envisioned
the frantic second half, which ended with the Russians just holding onto a 66-64 victory.
With the win, CSKA have now booked a date with another Greek giant, Olympiacos Piraeus in the final to be played tonight.
Andrei Kirilenko - the 2011-12 Euroleague MVP, the Best Defender Award winner, and a member of the All-Euroleague First Team – was huge on the night, finishing it with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. He was at the heart
of the mighty defensive hustle which the Russians put in the final minute of the game.
After a Milos Teodosic put CSKA up by 65-64 with 38.1 seconds to go in the game, Sarunas Jasikevicius missed a deuce for the Greens, and Alex Shved headed to the charity stripe for two free throws on the other end.
With 21 second remaining on the clock, Shved, who finished the night with 15 points, split the pair but CSKA got the offensive rebound to retain possession. The Russians managed to slash 11 seconds from the clock before the defending
champs finally managed to foul Teodosic.
Slipping in both the free throws was all that Teodosic needed to do to secure a win for CSKA, but he crumbled under pressure, missing both and giving the Greens one final chance to either win the game or take it into overtime.
With 8.3 seconds remaining on the clock, it certainly looked a strong possibility, but such was the defense from the Russians, that Panathinaikos never managed a shot at the rim and the clock ran down.
Milos Teodosic was the third leading scorer for Moscow with 12 points. Sarunas Jasikevicius led the charge for Panathinaikos with 19 points; Mike Batiste posted 11 points; Kostas Kaimakoglou added 10 points, hauled down 8 rebounds
and dished out 5 assists while last season’s MVP Dimitris Diamantidis managed 10 points and 6 dimes.
The Greeks had themselves to blame for the defeat. They had a brilliant start to the game and were leading by 29-15 at the close of the first quarter. However, they melted down completely in the second, giving the Russians a sniff
and finally gave away the lead deep in the third.
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