By Aris Barkas
Veteran point guard Zoran Planinic led the way for Khimki in the Eurocup Final. The final score was 77-68 in favor of the Russians against the Spanish team of Valencia that couldn’t stop the former Nets player (19 p., 4 as.).
The score was 66-66, 2:13 before the final buzzer. But Khimki’s captain Vitaly Fridzon made a big three and former Spurs guard Chris Quinn scored four free throws, while Valencia‘s answer was two turnovers and the game was over. It was a pity for Nik Caner-Medley’s monster game (23 p., 11 r., 3 bl.) who tied the Eurocup Final record for performance index rating with 38.
Planinic was the Final MVP and his relief after the game was obvious: “I would say it was a great season for Khimki in the Eurocup this year. With this win and this trophy, we take a lot of pressure from our backs. Going into the Eurocup, we knew we had to win to qualify for the Euroleague next year, because it’s a lot easier to beat some Eurocup teams than to beat CSKA in the Russian League. We worked hard for this. Everyone contributed. I am glad. I think we deserved to win.”
Valencia’s coach Velimir Perasovic blamed the referees for the final score: “We are very sad because we lost a great opportunity to lift the trophy and take it home and everything that trophy means. I think we had our opportunity until the last minutes. And the moment when we lost our opportunity is when it was 66-66 and we missed a three-pointer and our opponent scored. After that moment, we didn’t have much more options. When we missed a three pointer with 2 minutes left, after that the refs hurt us. I don’t understand how what happened in the last two minutes can happen, but it’s something we had better not talk about.”
In the consolation game between the semifinals losers Lietuvos Ritas without injured guard Tyrese Rice beat Spartak St. Petersburg (71-62). Reinaldas Seibutis was the top scorer of the game (21 p.) and Toronto Raptors‘ draft pick Jonas Valanciunas had a double-double (10 p., 12 r.).
Khimki – Valencia 77-68
KHIMKI: Fridzon 9, Vyaltsev 3, Loncar 14, Quinn 11, Monya 2, Pushkov 4, Gelabale 2, Zhukanenko 6, Kelati 5, Planinic 19, Nielsen 2
VALENCIA: Markovic 1, Newley, Claver 5, Lishchuk 16, Faverani 4, Martinez 9, Pietrus 3, De Colo 7, Caner-Medley 23 (11 r.)
Lietuvos Rytas – Spartak St. Petersburg 71-62
LIETUVOS RYTAS: Babrauskas 9, Roberts 2, Seibutis 21, Samardziski, Katelynas 10, Valanciunas 10 (12 r.), Rasic 12, Jomantas 7, Redikas
SPARTAK SPB: Zavoruev, Kashirov 4, Halperin 8, Likhodey 8, Beverley 18, Zupan 4, Zozulin 3, Dragisevic 17, Keyru, Dragovic