By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Alexey Shved delivered a 26-point performance to keep Khimki Moscow on track against Panathinaikos, as the team marched to its third homecourt victory this season (103-86).
“It was a tough game and tight first three quarters. Both teams played good. Probably we did not play good defense. In the last quarter we played with more hustle and that is probably how we won the game. We boxed out and got a lot of rebounds. We started playing better on defense in the second half. Allowing 55 points were too many in the first half”, mentioned Shved.
His night behind the arch might not have been killer, though Khimki trusted in him to find the right pace in the second half of the game. Along with Janis Timma (16 points, 8 rebounds, six assists), he led Khimki to the win. Jonas Jerebko was also one of the team’s leading scorers, finishing the game with 14.
The Greek side led the first half 55-50 and had Jimmer Fredette posting 16 points along with three rebounds, while Nick Calathes put on a passing show with 11 assists and 10 points. Khimki’s game approached changed in the second, as coach Rimas Kurtinaitis commented after the game.
“The whole team was great tonight”
“In the second half, we made more effort in one-on-one defense, we changed our pick-and-roll defense and it worked. We also made more pressure on Nick Calathes and naturally, at the end of the game he was a little bit tired. The whole team was great tonight”, said the Lithuanian coach.
Things didn’t work that well for Panathinaikos in the second half, as coach Pedoulakis mentioned.
“I think that in the second half we had two major issues. One was the defensive rebounds, where we were really bad and thus we gave Khimki plenty of second-chance points. What is more, Khimki scored 8/11 from the three-point line because of that”.
Panathinaikos exited the game with a 2-3 record and will look to bounce back on Thursday when they face Anadolu Efes at home. On the other hand, Khimki will look to exceed its winning streak (4-1) when they face Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade.
Photo credit: EuroLeague