A strong fourth period leads CSKA Moscow back to the win column
Focusing on its inside game in crunch time, CSKA Moscow defeated Valencia, 84-75, Thursday evening at home.
The team coached by Dimitris Itoudis controlled the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 6 contest building on Mike James pouring 15 points in the second quarter. His 17 points powered by 7/12 field goals including 5/5 twos earned him the game-high 17 points.blob:https://sneakershoptalk.com/0762261b-83ce-4685-9d9a-dca19a452ee2
“I think we played hard in the first half, but we knew we had to take a step ahead, still move the ball well, shoot open shots, and that gave us the win,” he said after the match, “I think we had some games before in which we kind of laid it up. We have to play hard all game.”
Improving from beyond the arc during the contest and finishing with 12 out of 32 threes was a plus, but moving the ball inside down the stretch put the game beyond doubt.
Will Clyburn punched in 11 out of his 15 points in the fourth period. Darrun Hilliard produced 12, Johannes Voigtmann 11, and former Valenciaplayer Tornike Shengelia ten. Injured Joel Bolomboy was sidelined alongside Andrey Lopatin.
“They are going to the glass very hard. We have good size too, we need to be one of the best teams in rebounding and I think that, to some extent, we showed it today,” mentioned Voigtmann commenting on his side edging the rebound battle, 36-35, “If you look and read the defense, if you move the ball, you are going to get open shots. We got a lot of open shots and we made a lot of them today and that’s what wins the games.”
“I’m very happy about how we fought on the boards tonight, we won a team that got size, and as I said before the game, I believe they are a team for the playoffs. So, it’s a big win overall,” noted Itoudis, “Sometimes things go in our way, as we planned, but some other times they don’t and that’s the game. This is a game of runs, like I said at halftime. They got theirs, and we got ours, but we managed to keep them where we wanted them to be.”
On to the team coached by Jaume Ponsarnau struggling to find its range dropped to 3-2. Missing Fernando San Emeterio scratched due to a left leg injury did not help. Joan Sastre was out as well.
“We tried to compete, we tried to win this game, but they read the game well, they took advantage of some situations to make key field goals, especially in the second and the last quarter,” said the head coach summing up the Moscow affair, “Their three-point shooting was key in some moments and punished us hard. I think Voigtmann decided the game in the end, also Mike James has a key role in the second quarter. We are not happy with the loss, but we are satisfied with the effort.”
Nikola Kalinic going for a team-high 15 points with nine in the last quarter kept things interesting. The second double-digit scorer, Louis Labeyrie had ten points.
“It was a very tough game. It’s always hard to play against CSKA in Moscow. I think we did some good things, but in the crucial moments we took bad decisions,” claimed Labeyrie, “If you want to beat this team you have to be more than 100 percent.”
“I think we fought until the end,” said Vanja Marinkovic following his 7-point showing, “CSKA deserves the victory. They made important shots in the end and we didn’t make a great defense.”
The Russian outlet up 3-3 will return to Europe’s premier club competition next Friday facing Panathinaikos OPAP in Greece. Scheduled previously is a home game versus Enisey Krasnoyarsk Sunday in VTB United League action.
Valencia moves on to a home ACB match against Real Madrid Sunday and will bump into AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan next Friday staying in the third-largest city of Spain.
