By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Russian Basketball Federation president and former player Andrei Kirilenko said that Khimki Moscow should have been the winner in Game 4 of the EuroLeague playoffs against CSKA Moscow and admitted that he wanted to see a Game 5.
Kirilenko also spoke about the controversial last seconds of the match, mentioning that Charles Jenkins’ potential game-winner should have counted.
“I wanted to see a fifth game and Khimki did everything for this.I think that the last decision was terrible,” Kirilenko said in an official statement, per the Russian Federation.”I don’t know exactly what happened there.I don’t know what guided the referee to stop the game. If it was his fault or an error of the officiating table. But in my opinion, stopping the offense at such a moment, was wrong.
“I feel very sad for Khimki but they should have won Game 4 against CSKA Moscow. I wouldn’t like to see this kind of situations. It turned out It’s a pity that there are such officiating errors recently in EuroLeague,” Kirilenko added.
The former NBA All-Star also said that CSKA – for which he played in 1998-2001, 2011-2012 and 2015, just before his retirement – will benefit from the series.
“I think that CSKA was lucky in the series.Lucky that they got such a strong Khimki. It’s bad that one team should be out. I think that Khimki deserved a participation in the Final Four. But CSKA also received an excellent practice. The character is tempered only in this kind of games. That’s where the team gets better. Such a battle will certainly help in the Final Four. It’s important that Russian players like Semen Antonov and Andrei Vorontsevich are hardened in such serious matches.”
Speaking of Russian players, Kirilenko praised Alexey Shved and his performances throughout the season, including his fantastic Game 4 display.
“We are carried away in criticizing him. I often hear people say that Shved carries the ball too much or that he’s addicted to an “individualistic” game. But I want to say this to everyone: “Guys, you all wake up.”At this moment we have a basketball player from our country that plays basketball at a crazy level. For some rubbish, you forget that we have a leader who pushes his team with him and who plays great.”
“I believe that Shved deserves the MVP title. Of course, he will remain the top scorer in EuroLeague. Indubitably, he will be in the All-EuroLeague First team. And the historical achievement of Khimki was mainly because of him.”
Photo: Russian Basketball Federation