By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
In Day 2 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Khimki Moscow got its second win of the season with an 85-77 victory over Zalgiris Kaunas who fell to a 1-1 record.
Even though Zalgiris started the game off positive with a 0-6 (1:00) run in the first quarter, Alexey Shved led his team to an 11-0 run and put them up by eight points (18-10) (7:00). The home team seemed to have control of the game with Shved and Robinson being once more phenomenal for the Russian team.
The star (s): Thomas Robinson was the man of the match with his double-double: 19 points and 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes. Malcolm Thomas was also impressive for Khimki, on both ends of the floor as he had 14 points and 6 rebounds in the game. Thomas also had an excellent night from the field shooting 7/7 (2FG) while Alexey Shved was also good with 16 points.
The key: Khimki’s ‘big 3’, was great offensively as they made some tough shots, free-throws, lay-ups, and dunks and helped their team to a large extent in defeating Zalgiris. The team’s function offensively and defensively by coach Bartzokas also helped in the way the game played out.
In the early second quarter, James Anderson’s three-point shots and Thomas Robinson’s dunks led the home team to a double-digit lead (31-17) (12:00).
After the half-time break, the home team had the upper hand in the third and fourth quarter and with some three-point shots, lay-ups kept their lead. Zalgiris tried to come back in the last minutes of the game but it was too late. Finally, the game ended 85-77 in favor of Khimki, winning their second straight EuroLeague contest.
Not enough: Paulius Jankunas was impressive for the visitors as he finished the game with 24 points and 8 rebounds and surpassed Dimitris Diamantidis as well as Mike Batiste for 8th on the all-time EuroLeague scoring list.