2019-20Regular SeasonRound 28
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 66
CSKA Moscow 97
March 05, 2020 CET: 20:00
Local time: 21:00 OAKA

CSKA secures playoff spot by crushing Panathinaikos

CSKA Moscow booked its place in the playoffs in emphatic fashion by crushing out-of-form Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 66-97 on the road. The reigning champs used a free-scoring first quarter to establish a strong early advantage which rarely looked in danger, with CSKA leading in the teens for long periods before steadily extended the margin to cruise home without any trouble. Darrun Hilliard led the way with 21 points on 5-of-9 three-point shooting, while Mike James scored 18 against his former club. Kyle Hines combined 13 points and 8 rebounds, Howard Sant-Roos scored 11 and Johannes Voigtmann and Kosta Koufos both added 10. DeShaun Thomas paced the home team with 12 points, while Nick Calathes had 10 points and 7 assists. Panathinaikos has lost six of its last seven games to drop to 14-14, while CSKA advanced to 19-9 and can now focus on fighting for homecourt advantage.


Both offenses moved freely in the opening stages, with Voigtmann netting a pair of triples while Thomas scored twice from close range and Calathes recorded a three-pointer, a three-point play and 3 assists in the opening 5 minutes, which arrived with the game tied at 17-17. James netted a transition three and Voigtmann added an athletic layup as CSKA moved ahead, before Hines with a layup and James with a three-point play capped a 0-12 run for a 19-29 lead. Thomas ended that burst, but Hines made a battling layup-and-one to beat the buzzer as the first quarter ended 22-32. Four points from Ian Vougioukas pulled Panathinaikos back early in the second, but Hilliard and Daniel Hackett reasserted CSKA from deep, 26-40. Vougoiukas netted again and Andy Rautins struck from deep, but Hackett responded likewise. Calathes scored his second triple, helping make it 38-48 at the break.

James started the second half’s scoring with a step-back long two, and that was the only field goal in the opening 3 minutes. Hines scored underneath as the host continued to struggle and a James three-point play made it 39-55. Dinos Mitoglou got Panathinaikos moving with a layup-and-one, but Hines sank a long two as CSKA stayed strong. Hilliard added a quickfire pair of triples to stretch the lead before Tyrese Rice responded from deep to make it 51-65 after three quarters. Ioannis Papapetrou scored from long-range, but Nikita Kurbanov’s dunk and another Hilliard triple made it 54-76. Koufos slammed and added a layup before Sant-Roos threw down a dunk to extend the lead to 58-84 and Panathinaikos never looked like mounting a comeback. James teed up Koufos for an alley-oop before sinking a step-back three, taking the advantage beyond 30 points with 3 minutes to play and it stayed around that margin the rest of the way.

Hines shines in the early going

Kyle Hines enjoyed a magnificent first quarter to help his team into a dominant position. The veteran CSKA center played all 10 minutes and made all 3 of his two-point attempts, all 3 free throws, grabbed 5 rebounds, dished 3 assists and made 1 steal for a PIR of 19.

CSKA perfect from the foul line…nearly

One of the many things CSKA did well on the night was free-throw shooting. The Russian team was heading for a perfect night from the stripe until Ron Baker, who was cold after not playing in the opening 37 minutes, missed a foul shot with 1:55 remaining. CSKA finished 19 of 20 on free throws.

Calathes overtakes 3D

Panathinaikos playmaker Nick Calathes jumped into second place on the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague assists chart by recording 7 on the night. That took his career total to 1,260, moving past former teammate Dimitris Diamantidis (1,255). Calathes remains a long way behind leading assist-maker Vassilis Spanoulis (1,516) of Olympiacos Piraeus.

Greens struggle from deep again

After enduring a horrific 1-of-20 three-point shooting night in the Greek derby two nights early, Panathinaikos struggled from deep again. The home team made just 2 of its first 11 triples as CSKA moved into a double-digit lead and that set the tone for the remainder of the game as Panathinaikos finished with just 7 of 30 three-point conversions (23.3%).

Next round

CSKA heads home for Round 29, preparing to welcome ALBA Berlin to the Russian capital next Thursday. Panathinaikos heads on the road for a crunch clash at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul on Friday.

Kyle Hines - CSKA Moscow - EB19
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: ROCHA, FERNANDO; PERUGA, CARLOS; NEDOVIC, MILAN
Attendance: 7031
By Quarter1234
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens22161315
CSKA Moscow32161732
End of Quarter1234
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens22385166
CSKA Moscow32486597
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 THOMAS, DESHAUN 31:27 12 4/7 0/1 4/6 2   2     2     3 5 8
5 RICE, TYRESE 11:28 3 0/1 1/3     1 1 1   1 1 1 1    
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 4:08                              
8 RAUTINS, ANDY 14:49 8 1/1 2/2     1 1   1       2   8
10 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 27:47 9 2/6 1/5 2/3 3 3 6 2 1   1 1 2 4 11
15 VOUGIOUKAS, IAN 17:30 6 2/5   2/2 4 2 6 2 1 1     4 4 11
24 JOHNSON, WESLEY 26:52 2 0/3 0/5 2/2 2 6 8 1         2 1 2
32 FREDETTE, JIMMER 9:16 5 1/3 1/4                   1   -1
33 CALATHES, NICK 29:21 10 1/6 2/7 2/3   3 3 7 1 4   2 2 5 7
35 WILEY, JACOB 3:02           1 1 1             2
44 MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS 15:47 9 2/3 0/2 5/7   2 2   2 1     3 5 9
50 BENTIL, BEN 8:33 2 0/2 0/1 2/2 1 1 2           1 1 1
Team           4 3 7               7
Totals 200:00 66 13/37 7/30 19/25 16 23 39 14 6 9 2 4 21 25 65
        35.1% 23.3% 76%
Head coach: PITINO, RICK
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
CSKA Moscow
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 BOLOMBOY, JOEL 18:44     0/1   1 5 6       1   2 2 6
5 JAMES, MIKE 27:12 18 5/8 2/6 2/2   4 4 5       1   2 21
11 ANTONOV, SEMEN 7:05 2 1/2     1 1 2 1   2         2
13 STRELNIEKS, JANIS 5:18   0/1       2 2 2   1     1   1
17 VOIGTMANN, JOHANNES 21:22 10 2/4 2/5   1 4 5 1   1 1   3 1 9
23 HACKETT, DANIEL 23:16 6 0/3 2/4   2 3 5 1   1     4 2 4
26 SANT-ROOS, HOWARD 18:23 11 1/5 1/3 6/6 1 2 3 3         3 5 13
31 KOUFOS, KOSTA 14:22 10 5/6     3 1 4 2     1   5   11
32 HILLIARD, DARRUN 25:12 21 0/3 5/9 6/6   4 4 1       1 2 3 19
41 KURBANOV, NIKITA 14:53 5 2/3 0/2 1/1   1 1   1   1   4 1 2
42 HINES, KYLE 21:38 13 5/6   3/3 3 5 8 3 1 1     2 3 24
84 BAKER, RON 2:35 1     1/2                   1 1
Team           1 3 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 97 21/41 12/30 19/20 13 35 48 19 2 7 4 2 26 20 116
        51.2% 40% 95%
Head coach: ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS

Head Coaches

PITINO, RICK
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"Obviously I think the organization is very disappointed. I think the fans are very disappointed, I think the coaches are very disappointed and I think the players are very disappointed with that type of performance. I can tell you from experience it doesn’t do any good to yell at the players or trash the players. Because we know the problems as coaches, now with seven games remaining and things looking bleak, we've got to find solutions. So complaining about the talent, the mismatches or the shooting, it’s not going to help. We're 8 for 50 from wide-open threes over two games. We have one low-post player, Ian [Vougioukas], and he’s done a wonderful job finally getting into shape, so we give him a lot of credit. We get caught in a lot of defensive mismatches every game and we did tonight, and it cost us dearly. We don’t rebound really well, and that’s been a problem all year. The biggest disappointment I’ve had taking over the team compared to last year, is that last year the number one asset the team had was the fastbreak. This year we’ve gone from averaging 15 to 18 transition fastbreaks to 5 a game. That’s obviously because you give up offensive rebounds, you don’t play great defense, so you don’t get out in transition. And that was the strength of this basketball team last year. When we’ve got to rely on jump shots, that’s not a good sign for us."
ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS
CSKA Moscow
"First of all congratulations to my team, it was a tough road game against a motivated and talented team. It's difficult to play here. We both needed it desperately to prove we’re in a good mode and we’ve got to keep going in this tough league. The fact we gained 48 rebounds, we outran them and outshot them means we deserve congratulations, and we fought to the last moment despite the score. I like the fact my team was hustling, we had the mindset which is exactly the mindset needed to play in such a tough road game. It’s a good game, we had some good games when the outcome was not what we wanted, but we’re a new team and we have to be realistic. There are some unwritten rules in this game that we have to follow and respect. We knew who we are, but nobody can underestimate us."

Players

VOUGIOUKAS, IAN
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"This was a very embarrassing loss for us. Congratulations to CSKA, they came ready to play in all four quarters. Unfortunately, we continue to show our struggles as we have the last month and a half. Our playoff position is now being put under a lot of pressure and we have a tough schedule continuing. So we must change some things drastically if we want to contend for the playoffs."
JAMES, MIKE
CSKA Moscow
"I think we needed a win to get ready for the playoffs, we came here and played hard. We shared the ball, rebounded, played defense, set the tone and tried to gain momentum. I have a good relationship with the Panathinaikos fans, it felt good [to be cheered by them] and hopefully we keep a healthy relationship.”
HINES, KYLE
CSKA Moscow
"The first time we played them they outrebounded us, they outhustled us, they played better than us and were more physical. So we wanted to establish ourselves and we did a good job, having 48 rebounds, playing great defense and holding them to under 70 points. That was the key and it will be the key until the end of the season."
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