By Aris Barkas
After many days of speculations Nenad Krstic was back on the court and CSKA Moscow, without any absence, beat Khimki 91-72. The “army team” was the leader in the scoreboard throughout the game and Khimki seemed content with second place. The good news for coach Jonas Kazlauskas is that the four players that fought injuries the last week were back in action. Besides Krstic, Siskauskas, Gordon and Kirilenko were on the court, but Victor Khryapa with 14 points and 7 assists was the best of the winners. CSKA Moscow finished the regular season of Russian League on top and will play against Lokomotiv Kuban in the play offs.
A little bit earlier in Piraeus Greece, Olympiacos won Game 1 of Greek League play offs semi finals against Panionios (83-67). The first half was a dog fight with the Reads leading by four points (42-38) but after the third quarter the game was decided (67-54). Vasilis Spanoulis and Joey Dorsey had 13 points each and for Panionios former Buckeye Jon Diebler scored 17 points.
Panathinaikos didn’t have any problem in OAKA, beating Kolossos almost by 40 points (103-67). Ian Vougioukas and Kostas Kaimakoglou with 13 points each led a balanced Panathinaikos offense and undrafted Tennessee alumni Scotty Hopson was the top scorer of Kolossos with 19 points. The news from the game is the right leg injury of All Eurolague nominee Mike Batiste who won’t play in the next games of Greek League semifinals in order to be ready for the Euroleague Final Four.
CSKA Moscow – Khimki 91-72
CSKA: Teodosic 8 (7 as.), Lavrinovic 2, Siskauskas 9, Mejia 2, Krstic 4, Voronov 9, Vorontsevich 10, Shved 15, Kaun 1, Khryapa 14 (7 as.), Gordon 4, Kirilenko 12
KHIMKI: Fridzon 10, Vyaltsev 7, Loncar 6, Quinn 11, Monya, Hvostov 3, Pushkov, Adrien 9, Gelabale 7, Zhukanenko 2, Kelati 12 (4/6 3p.), Nielsen 5
Olympiacos – Panionios 83-67
OLYMPIACOS: Hines 8, Law 5, Antic 9, Spanoulis 13, Dorsey 13 (7 r.), Keselj 9, Gecevivius 10, Glyniadakis, Printezis 12, Papanikolaou, Mantzaris 2, Sloukas 2
PANIONIOS: Xanthopoulos 8, Keys 14, Athanasoulas 2, Diebler 17, Kavadas 6, Ioannou 5, Sarikopoulos 2, Nadjfeji 7, Paragios, Barlos 6
Panathinaikos – Kolossos 103-67
PANATHINAIKOS: Maric 6, Perperoglou 9, Batiste 2, Logan 11, Sato 6, Tsartsaris 8, Diamantidis 6 (8 as.), Vougioukas 13, Calathes 8, Smith 9, Kaimakoglou 13, Jasiekevicius 12
KOLOSSOS: Liakopoulos 3, Hatten 4, Kalaitzis, Panos 9, Georgalis, Asimakopoulos 12, Boykin 6, Harissis 2, Tsamis 10, Hospon 19, Kobodietas 2