2017-18Regular SeasonRound 25
March 09, 2018 CET: 18:00
Local time: 20:00 MEGASPORT ARENA

CSKA rides offense to home-court advantage in playoffs

CSKA Moscow never trailed and used a big first half to become the first team with 20 wins this season by downing visiting Unicaja Malaga 101-76 on Friday. CSKA improved to 20-5 and secured home-court advantage in the playoffs, since only four teams can reach 20 wins now. Unicaja dropped to a 10-15 record, three games behind eighth place. Behind Nikita Kurbanov's 10 early points, CSKA jumped to a 27-13 lead, extended it to 50-27 midway through the second quarter, and prevented Unicaja from getting within single digits the rest of the way. CSKA finished the game with 15 triples on 27 attempts and a season-high 29 assists. Nando De Colo finished with 23 points, making 4 of 4 two-pointers and 4 of 5 triples. Will Clyburn scored 13 points and had 6 assists, Sergio Rodriguez had 11 points and 7 assists, while Kurbanov and Othello Hunter scored 10 apiece in victory. Nemanja Nedovic had 15 points and James Augustine collected 12 points plus 7 rebounds for Unicaja.

Kurbanov scored CSKA's first 7 points and Rodriguez added back-to-back threes as CSKA got off to a hot start and a 13-5 lead. Dragan Milosavljevic hit a three for the visitors, but Kurbanov hit his second from deep and Kyle Hines had a three-point play as CSKA kept pouring it in. Hunter's put-back made it 27-13 after 8 minutes. Unicaja answered with a triple from Ray McCallum and Augustine hit a baseline jumper, cutting the deficit to 8 points, before Clyburn beat the buzzer on a fastbreak to make it 30-20 after on quarter. A three-pointer from Carlos Suarez made it 34-25, but Hunter sparked another CSKA run during which Leo Westermann hit back-to-back triples before fastbreak baskets from Clyburn and De Colo extended the difference to 50-27. Augustine snapped a 16-2 CSKA run with a pair of baskets before a three-point play from McCallum and a triple from Milosavljevic helped Unicaja cut the deficit to 57-43 at halftime.

Rodriguez and Nedovic traded triples to start the third quarter, and Clyburn had a long jumper and a triple to help CSKA open a 69-51 lead. Alberto Diaz hit a three-pointer and Viny Okouo scored inside, but Semen Antonov and Westermann both went deep to help get the margin to 21 points, 79-58. Suarez ended the third quarter with a three-pointer, but CSKA did not allow another field goal to Unicaja for more than 4 minutes to open the fourth quarter, a span during which De Colo knocked down a pair of triples and a fastbreak layup to open 89-62 margin. The advantage was as big as 29 points before the visitors cut into the margin in the final minutes.

Will Clyburn - CSKA Moscow - EB17
Friday, March 9, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; LATISEVS, OLEGS; BISSANG, JOSEPH
Attendance: 9344
By Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow30272222
Unicaja Malaga20231815
End of Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow305779101
Unicaja Malaga20436176
CSKA Moscow
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 DE COLO, NANDO 17:40 23 4/4 5/6     1 1   2 4     2 2 21
3 RUDD, VICTOR 9:34 2 1/1       2 2     2     4   -2
7 FRIDZON, VITALY 10:21 2 1/4 0/2   1 2 3 2   2   1 2   -3
9 WESTERMANN, LEO 14:55 9 0/1 3/4     1 1 5       1 2   10
11 ANTONOV, SEMEN 17:53 4 0/1 1/2 1/2 2 2 4 1           2 8
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 22:09 11 1/2 3/7         7 1 1       1 14
20 VORONTSEVICH, ANDREY 18:47 2 1/1 0/1   3 1 4 1     1   3 1 5
21 CLYBURN, WILL 16:50 13 5/8 1/2 0/1   4 4 6 1       2 3 20
22 HIGGINS, CORY 18:37 8 4/6       2 2 3   1   1 3 2 8
41 KURBANOV, NIKITA 20:57 10 2/4 2/3   1 5 6 3   1         15
42 HINES, KYLE 16:13 7 3/4   1/1   2 2   1   1 1 1 1 9
44 HUNTER, OTHELLO 16:04 10 4/4   2/2 1 1 2 1 2       1 1 15
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 101 26/40 15/27 4/6 9 25 34 29 7 11 2 4 20 13 123
        65% 55.6% 66.7%
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
Unicaja Malaga
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 OKOUO, VINY 19:19 4 1/2   2/4   5 5     1 1   3 2 5
3 MCCALLUM, RAY 18:45 7 1/4 1/5 2/3             1 1 1 2  
6 SOLUADE, MO 7:30 2 1/1 0/2     1 1 1 1 3          
9 DIAZ, ALBERTO 16:30 7 0/1 2/4 1/2 2   2 5   2       1 9
10 SALIN, SASU 15:54 3 1/2 0/2 1/2 1   1 1 1       2 2 2
11 DIEZ, DANIEL 14:44 7 2/3 1/2   1   1 1             7
12 MILOSAVLJEVIC, DRAGAN 12:19 8 1/2 2/3   1 1 2   1   1       10
16 NEDOVIC, NEMANJA 22:52 15 3/3 2/9 3/3 1 2 3 5 1 3     4 7 17
21 WACZYNSKI, ADAM 16:10 5 0/2 1/4 2/2   1 1   1   1 1   1 3
23 BROOKS, JEFF 21:21 2 1/2     1   1 3         2 3 6
40 AUGUSTINE, JAMES 17:53 12 6/8     4 3 7 1 1       1   18
43 SUAREZ, CARLOS 16:43 4 0/3 1/1 1/2 1 2 3 5 2 5     1 2 6
Team           2 2 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 76 17/33 10/32 12/18 14 17 31 22 8 15 4 2 14 20 86
        51.5% 31.3% 66.7%
Head coach: PLAZA, JOAN

Head Coaches

ITOUDIS, DIMITRIS
CSKA Moscow
“Congratulations to my team. It was obvious we were a better team on the court, we deserved to win. We had some issues, especially defensively in first half, but we worked on it and we fulfilled that task of improving in the second half. Allowing 33 points is better than the 43 we allowed in the first. We were more active, more energized and smarter as well, and we won against a team that defends well. They are a very aggressive defensive team, they have been very competitive in all games they played so far, they are chasing a playoff spot. We approached the game serious. No one played more than 22 minutes, which is good. When we are healthy, in mind and body, it will hopefully help us to have more good games in the future. I would also like to thank the fans. It is obvious they are enjoying the basketball we are playing. I also want to add we moved the ball well, we were unselfish. We created a lot of open looks. We shot with good percentages, but had a lot of open looks. Having almost 30 assists in a EuroLeague game is a lot.”
PLAZA, JOAN
Unicaja Malaga
“It is fair to congratulate CSKA, they deserved to win the game. We played a bad game and were not competitive as we are used to being. We made successive turnovers, and had poor averages on threes and twos. We try to win and lose as a team, and we accept they were a better team today.”

Players

CLYBURN, WILL
CSKA Moscow
“This game was about us. We went out there wanting to play our type of basketball: defend, rebound and try to get better within ourselves. It is good we got a win, but we want to get better every game. We have five tough games left, and the playoff is not what we are thinking about. We are just worried about ourselves, focusing on ourselves and focusing to do what we do.”
HUNTER, OTHELLO
CSKA Moscow
“I am still on a high from becoming a father. It feels great and wonderful, and it is good to win the game and go back to see the baby. I felt emotions I never felt that I have, that was new and wonderful, knowing you are taking care of somebody and doing it all for them.”