By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After a balanced first half, Sergio Rodriguez and CSKA ‘ran over’ foul-troubled Baskonia on their way to a 94-68 home win in Game 1 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs.
Rodriguez logged game-high 19 points on 5-6 shooting from behind the arc while also adding five assists. Cory Higgins added 12 and Nando De Colo 11 points.
For Baskonia, Shavon Shields scored 17 points while Vincent Poirier and Darrun Hilliard followed with 12 points each.
The squads needed some time to get into the game as they couldn’t score in the first two minutes but they made up for it rather quickly with Baskonia holding the minimal 24-23 lead after the first quarter. The Spaniards had a strong presence in the paint on both ends of the floor but they also had trouble defending cleanly as CSKA banked 12 free throws and led by Rodriguez’s ten points went on the break with a 44-40 advantage.
“Congratulations to CSKA, they played much better today and deserve this victory. I think the key to the game was the beginning of the third quarter and CSKA scored a lot of three-point shots and they broke the game. After that, we tried but the game was finished at that moment”, coach Velimir Perasovic said.
Although Shields scored nine points after the break, he got into foul trouble and without him, Baskonia couldn’t keep up with the Russians who, led by Rodriguez, nailed seven shots from deep in the third quarter and went ahead 73-52. CSKA kept the distance until the end and secured the win.
“We won with a big margin at the end, but we know what kind of a big effort we put in, especially in that third quarter where we outplayed them. It’s the second time that this happened. Recently we played them in the final round of the regular season and in the last quarter, we really played outstanding defense where we gave up only 12 points and scored 27. Today happened a similar thing. Overall I’m happy with the way it went. But we know that it’s just 1-0”, coach Dimitris Itoudis noted.
Photo Credit: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague