By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
With the teams advancing to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs and quarterfinal pairings previously determined, CSKA Moscow beat Panathinaikos OPAP, 93-86, in a pushed back Regular Season Round 25 contest held Wednesday evening at the Russian capital.
Danish Gabriel Lundberg unlocked the top-scorer achievement in the last game of the Regular Season with 19 points to his name. Will Clyburn logged 14 points after the break to finish with 18. Johannes Voigtmann banked 11 of his 15 points in the first period.
“This is a tough league and even though they are not in the playoffs they have pride, they’re competitors so they came out and played hard,” said Clyburn painting the general picture.
“We played an intensive game,” added Lundberg, “We wanted to end the regular season on a good note and just focus on the playoffs.”
Dimitris Itoudis missing Nikola Milutinov, Joel Bolomboy, and Daniel Hackett spread playing time among available players, but still guided his side to the sixth straight win in Europe’s premier club competition. CSKA finished with a 12-5 regular-season record at home.
“We had control of the game,” stated the Greek head coach, a former assistant at Panathinaikos, “We were consistently ahead 12 to 9 points. They made a run and hit some big shots, but overall we were in control. We end this regular season in the second spot with the same record as Barcelona. We have to be pretty happy with that, considering the fact that we had a lot of absences, a lot of injuries and a lot of problems. But that doesn’t satisfy us completely. We now have the next phase where we not only have to be motivated and concentrated, but also very moved and thrilled about what’s coming for us.”
The visitors without Mario Hezonja, who was not eligible, were held to a catch-up game from the end of the first period. Ioannis Papapetrou with a team-high 15 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists was not enough in Moscow. Shelvin Mack and Konstantinos Mitoglou followed with 12 points each.
“In the second half, we did a better job defensively. They have a lot of quality. They hit some big shots,” noted Oded Kattash, “We focused on some things in the game plan: to protect the basketball. I think we did a pretty good job because they really know how to punish every turnover. Generally, it’s never easy to play a team like CSKA, but it was very important for us to finish the EuroLeague season being competitive. I think we did that.”
The Russian club rounding up at 24-10, will face Fenerbahce Beko in the playoffs with the home-court advantage generated by finishing second overall. The Greens downed to 11-23, turn the focus on the domestic league and Cup.