2017-18PlayoffsGame 2
CSKA Moscow 89
Khimki Moscow Region 84
April 19, 2018 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 MEGASPORT ARENA

Rodriguez leads CSKA to 2-0 series lead

CSKA Moscow took a commanding 2-0 lead over crosstown rival Khimki Moscow Region in their best-of-five playoff series with an 89-84 win on Thursday night at Megasport Arena. Sergio Rodriguez dominated for the shorthanded hosts with a career-high 26 points plus 10 assists. Khimki led at halftime and entered the fourth quarter trailing by 2, but Cory Higgins led an 11-2 CSKA run that gave it the game's first double-digit lead. Even though Khimki railed late through Anthony Gill, Higgins iced the game with free throws. Higgins finished with 19 points, Will Clyburn posted 16 points and 7 rebounds, Othello Hunter added 14 and 7 and Semen Antonov scored 12 for the Russian champs, who were without injured stars Nando De Colo and Kyle Hines. Gill tied his career high with 24 points for Khimki, but league-leading scorer Alexey Shved was held to a season-low 12 points on 2-of-9 three-point shooting. Shved also dished 7 assists. Stefan Markovic and James Anderson added 11 points apiece in defeat. The series moves to Khimki's home floor for Game 3 – and, if necessary, Game 4 – next week.

Higgins scored on the game's first possession for CSKA, but back-to-back threes by Gill and Charles Jenkins gave Khimki the lead. CSKA quickly tied the score through Hunter and the teams proceeded to trade shots. Antonov's triple gave CSKA a 13-10 edge after five minutes. After the TV timeout, Rodriguez buried a triple, but Egor Vialtsev matched him at the other end. Shved heated up with 5 quick points for the visitors to tie the game late in the quarter, but Rodriguez free throws gave him 9 first-quarter points and CSKA a 24-22 lead after 10 minutes. Shved buried his second three early in the second quarter, but baskets by Higgins and Clyburn put CSKA ahead by 5. Markovic stepped up for Khimki with a pair of layups to give the visitors a 30-31 lead midway through the second quarter. Three-pointers by Jenkins and James Anderson extended the margin to 5 points, but Higgins connected from downtown, too. A pair of deep threes by Anderson sandwiched Rodriguez's second triple and kept Khimki ahead. A tip-in by Hunter trimmed CSKA's deficit to 43-45 at the break.

Clyburn tied the game with the first basket of the second half, Antonov made a jumper, Hunter scored inside and Clyburn capped an 8-0 run that made it 51-45. Shved’s basket-plus foul and three-pointers by Gill and Vialtsev kept Khimki close. A three-point play by Gill tied the game at 57-57 midway through the third quarter. Antonov pushed CSKA back in front with a three-pointer and Clyburn banked in a shot for a 65-61 lead. Free throws by Gill and a three-point play by Markovic put Khimki on top, but Rodriguez ended the third quarter with a long three for a 68-66 CSKA edge. Markovic tied the game with the first basket of the fourth quarter, however Higgins scored the game's next 5 points. A three-point play by Clyburn and later a technical foul on Khimki Coach Bartzokas extended an 11-2 run that saw the CSKA lead soar to 79-70 with four and a half minutes remaining. Gill snapped the run with a put-back, but Rodriguez sank a three that gave CSKA its first double-digit lead, 84-74. Gill hit from downtown to bring Khimki within 6 and Markovic free throws made it 87-82 inside the final minute. Gill free throws with 8.1 seconds remaining drew Khimki within 3, but Higgins all but iced the game with a pair of free throws with 7 seconds to go.

Sergio Rodriguez - CSKA Moscow - EB17
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; JAVOR, DAMIR; DIFALLAH, MEHDI
Attendance: 8152
By Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow24192521
Khimki Moscow Region22232118
End of Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow24436889
Khimki Moscow Region22456684
CSKA Moscow
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 RUDD, VICTOR 11:40   0/1 0/1           1         1  
7 FRIDZON, VITALY 2:49                   1     2   -3
9 WESTERMANN, LEO 7:54 2   0/3 2/2   2 2 1   1     2 2 1
11 ANTONOV, SEMEN 22:18 12 3/4 2/3   2 2 4   1   1   4   12
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 34:55 26 4/4 4/10 6/6 2 2 4 10 2 2   1   3 36
20 VORONTSEVICH, ANDREY 6:39     0/1             1     2   -4
21 CLYBURN, WILL 31:12 16 7/12   2/4 2 5 7 2 1 1 2 1 1 7 25
22 HIGGINS, CORY 31:56 19 4/9 2/5 5/6 1 1 2 1 1       3 3 14
31 KHRYAPA, VICTOR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
41 KURBANOV, NIKITA 19:48   0/2 0/2     3 3 2   2     4 3 -2
44 HUNTER, OTHELLO 30:49 14 6/9   2/2 4 3 7 1 2       3 2 20
77 MAKIEV, ALAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           2 2 4     3         1
Totals 200:00 89 24/41 8/25 17/20 13 20 33 17 8 11 3 2 21 21 100
        58.5% 32% 85%
Head coach: ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Khimki Moscow Region
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 ROBINSON, THOMAS 13:30 2 1/5     3 4 7   1 1     4 2 3
1 SHVED, ALEXEY 29:07 12 2/4 2/9 2/3   2 2 7   5   1 3 7 9
6 VIALTSEV, EGOR 15:05 8 0/1 2/4 2/2   2 2 2         4 1 6
8 ZAITCEV, VIACHESLAV 0:35                              
9 MARKOVIC, STEFAN 30:43 11 4/5 0/4 3/3 1 4 5 3   1     4 3 12
12 MONIA, SERGEY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 GILL, ANTHONY 30:22 24 4/5 3/4 7/8 1 4 5 1   1 1   1 4 30
19 TODOROVIC, MARKO 5:07   0/1     1   1 1 1       1   1
20 ZUBKOV, ANDREY 9:38   0/2 0/1   2 2 4     2   1   1 -1
21 ANDERSON, JAMES 18:16 11 0/1 3/4 2/2 1 1 2     1     1 1 10
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 26:14 9 0/3 3/3   1 3 4 1 2   1   3   11
23 THOMAS, MALCOLM 21:23 7 2/3 0/1 3/4 1   1 1   1   1 1 2 5
Team           1 1 2     2          
Totals 200:00 84 13/30 13/30 19/22 12 23 35 16 4 14 2 3 22 21 86
        43.3% 43.3% 86.4%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS
CSKA Moscow
"I feel happy. I have to congratulate my players for the 2-0. This is another step. Need on more though. We were serious. We were kind of slow in the beginning. We have to figure out the way to play again, operate without two important players. We have enough personnel, we have enough talented players. I need to congratulate my team for their dedication, motivation, because everything is over here [points to head]. We never gave up, no matter up. We handled the situations really wise on the court for such a pressure and the importance of the game."
BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Khimki Moscow Region
"Obviously, it was a tough game once more in the series. We were competitive; we had a chance to win, but we missed a lot of layups under the basket, we turned the ball over many times and sometimes you play with more enthusiasm than logic. I think we had a chance. It was a tough and tight game. Sergio decided the game today with his great performance and we have to play better defense on him."

Players

ANTONOV, SEMEN
CSKA Moscow
"We were trying to control the score. The lead changed many times. We were playing as a team today; that’s why we won. The huge merit of that success belongs to our guards, especially Nikita and Cory. I congratulate everybody for the win. Now we have a few days to recover and prepare for the next important game."
HIGGINS, CORY
CSKA Moscow
"We knew it was going to be a fight. Obviously we are missing some very important pieces to our team. So everybody wanted to pick up the slack for one another. We just came in more focused, especially on the defensive end, and played the full 40 minutes to get the win… When you play EuroLeague Playoffs, everything is magnified. We have already played these guys six time this season, so it's very difficult to play the same team that many times. We have to keep making our adjustments and just try to get one more victory over there."
RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO
CSKA Moscow
"I'm feeling great. It's always tough, but especially when we are missing teammates like Nando and Kyle. They are super important for us, probably our best players. So we are really happy. We know we have a long way still and they are going to come ready on next Wednesday. We are going to try to secure going to the Final Four by playing another good game. I came here to play these kinds of games. I really enjoy it when we have this atmosphere and when we play these playoff games. I enjoy it a lot. I have been working very hard the whole year for this and hopefully we can advance and keep going on the road."
GILL, ANTHONY
Khimki Moscow Region
"Defensive assignment. We didn’t take care of Sergio [Rodriguez] who had a lot of good shots in the end. We didn’t contest him really well, so they were able to get a lot of easy baskets. Again, I think what really hurt us in this game was offensive rebounds, as they got a lot of offensive boards. We allowed them second-chance points. We just have to come out next game be prepared and tougher like always. I think we have a great chance [in Game 3]. The two games were tight and that gives us chance. Our team did a great job and got me involved, but I had to be better job on rebounding."
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