CSKA Moscow qualify for the top 16 by beating Zalgiris Kaunas 95-82: Euroleague Recap
Russian Champions CSKA Moscow have qualified for the Turkish Airlines Euroleague top 16.
They did it in style too.
The Russians clinched their 6th consecutive victory by overpowering Zalgiris Kaunas 95-82 in a game played at the Universal Sports Hall CSKA. On the other hand, Zalgiris are on the brink of being knocked out after a
poor 1-5 record and need to win the remaining games to make a place in top 16.
CSKA entered the game without their star Andrei Kirilenko, who severely injured himself in the last game; however other big guns in the team rose to the occasion and filled up the void.
Nenad Krstic was the most outstanding player on the night. The Serbian shooter finished with 21 points on a near perfect shooting, including 7 for 8 from the two point range and 7 for 9 from the free throw line. Alexey Shved was
also aggressive and displayed a good all round show by scoring 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Andrey Vorontsevich and Milos Teodosic finished with 14 points each.
Zalgiris coach, Aleksandar Trifunovic admitted after the game that his team played against a special team;
“CSKA is one of three best teams in the Euroleague right now, and I will be surprised if they miss the Final Four, with Kirilenko or without him. Shved has made a huge improvement this season, as for Teodosic – he is probably the
best on his position in Europe right now. When you give them freedom, too much space, they will beat you, especially with Krstic inside. You should be ready physically and mentally”
For Zalgiris, Toronto Raptors forward, Sonny Weems scored a game high 22 points on 8 for 13 from the floor. Marko Popovic and Tomas Delininkaitis both finished with 12 points each while Milovan Rakovic also accumulated 10.
Paulius Jankunas and Viktor Khryapa opened the scoring for their respective teams through layups in the first minute. A six point spurt by CSKA midway through the quarter took them ahead 12-8, however Zalgiris bounced back immediately
and not only managed to slash the deficit but found themselves 1 point ahead 23-22 by the end of quarter. That however proved to be their only lead of the game.
An early 11-2 run by CSKA in the second quarter shifted the momentum again. Zalgiris were up to the challenge and keyed by Weems, they again tied the game at 45 with about a minute remaining.
CSKA however again managed to reel off a 6 point unanswered run to finish the first half with a 51-45 lead.
Nenad and Shved combined to push CSKA’s lead to 11 points early in the third quarter. In next few minutes though, Zalgiris displayed solid offense and managed to get within 68-64 however a 5 point burst by Shved in the last two
minutes again put CSKA in a commanding position at 73-66.
Zalgiris never managed to recover from there on and in the end found themselves short by good 13 points.
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