By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Alexey Shved notched a double-double of 24 points and a career-high-tying 13 assists as Khimki Moscow defeated ASVEL Villeurbanne 108 – 79 at home in Round 26 of the regular season.
“We played great today. We played well in the first half, and in the third quarter they played tougher but we kept going,” Shved said to EuroLeague TV. “We played our offense, our defense and I think we had a great result tonight. We played good defense and stopped a lot of shots. We need to play the same way every time, that is how you win games.”
It was the third win in a row for Khimki that improved to 12 – 14. ASVEL, on the other hand, dropped to 9- 17 after losing its third consecutive match. Adreian Payne (14 points, six rebounds) and David Lighty (12 points) were the top performers for the French team.
Thanks to his overall performance, Shved finished the game with 37 PIR, a number that tied his career-best. His passing plus the offensive output of Jonas Jerebko (18 points, seven rebounds), Devin Booker (17 points) and Janis Timma (14 points) set the tone early for Khimki that grabbed a 65 – 42 lead at halftime.
After getting completely outplayed in the first half, ASVEL tried to balance the game a bit but the Russian side remained dominant and cruised towards the blowout.
“A great victory”
Such a prolific performance by Khimki made coach Rimas Kurtinaitis a rather pleased man. “I think it is a great victory, because it is a very important victory at the moment. For sure, the guys did a good job on the court, with good energy and a good effort,” Kurtinaitis said.
“We fought from the first to the last minute, exactly what I wanted from our players. It is a great victory. We are always concentrating, focusing on a good start in the game to get some advantage and save the results. Today, we played all 40 minutes as it we were 0-0, it didn’t matter if we were up by 20 or 25. Everybody fought and this is very important, and then, after the game, we can look at the scoreboard and see how many points we scored. For me, it is important that we don’t lose our concentration for 40 minutes. It was a good game tonight.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball