2012-13Final Four3RD PLACE GAME
CSKA Moscow 74
FC Barcelona Regal 73
May 12, 2013 CET: 18:00
Local time: 17:00 O2 ARENA

CSKA beats Barca to finish season on the podium

CSKA Moscow held on to beat FC Barcelona Regal 74-73 to win the third place game at the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four at The O2 in London. The game came down to the very last shot before CSKA stopped Barcelona to claim the victory. Victor Khryapa led the way with 16 points, Sonny Weems scored 14 and Aaron Jackson 13, including the go-ahead free throws with 26.9 seconds remaining. Juan Carlos Navarro carried Barca in the fourth quarter and his triple put the team ahead in the final minute. He finished with 17 points on 5-of-7 three-point shooting. Marko Todorovic added 11 points and Alex Abrines and Ante Tomic netted 10 apiece. CSKA started fast and led 11-2 before Barcelona got going. Alex Abrines got going in the second quarter with 8 points to rally his team back. Bacra led briefly and eventually the teams reached halftime knotted at 35-35. CSKA came out hot in the third with 13 unanswered points, but Barcelona rallied again. Navarro’s hot hand set up an exciting finish, but even after regaining the lead, Barcelona was unable to hold on in the final minute.

First quarter: Khryapa, Kaun lead CSKA to strong start

CSKA won the opening tip and got on the scoreboard first through a Khryapa turnaround jumper on the baseline. Barcelona missed 4 free throws in the first three and a half minutes before Erazem Lorbek broke the ice with a pair from the charity stripe. Khryapa, Sasha Kaun and Weems led the CSKA charge as the Russian champs stormed out to a 9-2 lead. Barcelona turned to its star, but even Navarro’s shots rimmed out. After the first TV timeout, Khryapa extended the lead to 9 before Xavi Rabaseda looked to ignite his side with a three-pointer. Barca found some momentum as Ante Tomic scored down low and C.J. Wallace from behind the arc to make it 13-10. After baskets by Nenad Krstic and Sarunas Jasikevicius, CSKA led 15-12 through 10 minutes.

Second quarter: Abrines sparks Barcelona rally

Weems provided a highlight as he blocked Abrines, scooped up the loose ball and went straight to the rim for a slam. Barcelona fought back and soon tied the score at 17-17 with an Abrines triple. Tomic remained a central factor at both ends as the teams traded scores. Joe Ingles finally gave Barcelona its first lead, 23-25, with a runner in the lane that came with four minutes left in the half. Jackson tied it again before Abrines connected from downtown a second time. Before long, Vladimir Micov’s first three knotted the game again, 32-32. Khryapa sank a three too, but Todorovic’s first basket left things all square, 35-35, at halftime.

Third quarter: CSKA takes charge with 13-0 run

Weems drove to beat the shot clock and open the second half scoring. Back-to-back threes by Weems and Milos Teodosic made for a 9-0 run and resulted in a Barcelona timeout just 103 seconds into the quarter. Kaun and Khryapa made it 13 unanswered points. Tomic scored for Barcelona from the line and Ingles drained a three. Todorovic added to a 0-7 Barcelona surge before Khryapa netted a jumper. Weems restored a double-digit CSKA lead only to see Navarro get going, first with a fade-away three and then his trademark “la bomba.” A tomic tip-in made it 56-51. Another Navarro three – and the Euroleague debut of 22-year-old Papa Mbaye – came before the third quarter ended at 59-54.

Fourth quarter: Heroes shine at both ends as game comes down to final shot

Andrey Vorontsevich kept CSKA in front, but the veteran duo of Navarro and Jasikevicius were not going to give in. A Navarro three made it 62-57. Krstic inside and Jackson from the line maintained a safe cushion. Pascual was whistled for a technical foul, after which Jackson made it 67-59. The TV timeout allowed Barcelona to regroup. Abrines sank free throws and Erazem Lorbek scored in the paint to bring Barca within 4. A hard foul by Rabaseda on Khryapa followed and the CSKA forward made only 1 of the resulting free throws. Lorbek banked in another shot to make it 68-65 with three minutes remaining. After a wild sequence with turnovers at both ends, Khryapa soared to stuff a Kaun miss and stare down Tomic in the process. But Barca showed no fear; Navarro bettered him with his fourth three of the game to make it 70-68. Then Tomic tossed in a lefty hook at the one-minute mark to even the score. Kaun put CSKA back up with a tip-in, only to see Navarro lift his team with a clutch three with 36 second left. Jackson got to the line and made it 74-73 with 26.9 seconds remaining. Barcelona decided to go for the won with one last shot. After Marcelinho Huertas wound the clock down, he passed to Tomic, who gave it back to him, but the guard missed his jumper and CSKA raced off with the win.

Victor Khryapa - CSKA Moscow - Final Four London 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Frankie Sachs, Euroleague.net - London
Referees: LOTTERMOSER, ROBERT; BOLTAUZER, MATEJ; KOROMILAS, ELIAS
Attendance: 10716
By Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow15202415
FC Barcelona Regal12231919
End of Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow15355974
FC Barcelona Regal12355473
CSKA Moscow
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 TEODOSIC, MILOS 29:33 5 0/2 1/2 2/2   5 5 5 2 1     1 2 14
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 18:48 6 1/8 1/1 1/2   2 2 1   1       1 1
7 JACKSON, AARON 22:47 13 3/3   7/8   1 1 2 1       2 4 18
12 KRSTIC, NENAD 19:35 7 3/8   1/2 3 1 4 2   3   1   5 8
13 WEEMS, SONNY 27:50 14 6/12 0/2 2/2 1 2 3 1 1 2 1   4 1 7
14 ZOZULIN, ALEKSEY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
17 ERCEG, ZORAN 10:41 2 1/1 0/2                   1   -1
20 VORONTSEVICH, ANDREY 16:54 4 2/3     1 4 5 1   1     4   4
24 KAUN, SASHA 23:32 7 3/6   1/3 2 2 4       2   3 3 8
31 KHRYAPA, VICTOR 26:32 16 6/7 1/3 1/2 1 3 4 2 4 2     3 2 19
33 PONKRASHOV, ANTON DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
44 PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS 3:48   0/1 0/1         2         1   -1
Team           3 2 5     1         4
Totals 200:00 74 25/51 3/11 15/21 11 22 33 16 8 11 3 1 19 18 81
        49% 27.3% 71.4%
Head coach: MESSINA, ETTORE
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
FC Barcelona Regal
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
9 HUERTAS, MARCELINHO 22:24   0/2 0/1     1 1 2   6         -6
10 ABRINES, ALEX 19:58 10   2/6 4/4         1 1   1 1 2 6
11 NAVARRO, JUAN CARLOS 21:40 17 1/4 5/7     1 1 1   2       3 15
13 JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS 18:03 2 1/3 0/1   1 1 2 6   3     2 2 4
14 TODOROVIC, MARKO 20:14 11 2/2   7/8 1 3 4 1   1 1   1 6 20
18 WALLACE, C.J. 9:59 3 0/1 1/1     4 4     1         5
20 INGLES, JOE 16:35 7 1/2 1/2 2/4           1     2 2 2
22 RABASEDA, XAVIER 21:20 5 1/3 1/2     4 4         2 3   1
25 LORBEK, ERAZEM 18:23 8 3/6 0/1 2/2   4 4 1   1     2 2 8
34 MBAYE, PAPA 5:05                         3   -3
44 TOMIC, ANTE 26:19 10 4/6   2/4 3 3 6 3   1     4 2 12
Team           2 4 6           1   5
Totals 200:00 73 13/29 10/21 17/22 7 25 32 14 1 17 1 3 19 19 69
        44.8% 47.6% 77.3%
Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI

Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
CSKA Moscow
"This was a game between two frustrated and disappointed teams as always happens in these third-place games. But both teams competed in the game and they wanted to win. And they made an effort. For some it was easier, for some it was more difficult because the degree of frustration changes from person to person. I think we deserved to win because most of the time we were up, even with a good lead. They came back late in the game. But we take a win that we consider important that finishes at least on a positive note a very good Euroleague season, which unfortunately was spoiled by a poor performance that we had in the semifinal against Olympiacos. Tomorrow we will start thinking about a way to come back to the next Final Four. In my first third-place game, what I keep after this game is that we had a reaction. We played with dignity – as we wanted. And we got a win."
PASCUAL, XAVI
FC Barcelona Regal
"We were fourth and I would like to congratulate my team for the trajectory this year and how we played here. The results weren’t what we wanted but we still played well. Just like on Friday, we ended up with 12 fewer field goal attempts than them. And it’s difficult to win the game with those statistics. We had a good attitude and courage and disposition today. With Victor Sada injured, the team did its best. Jawai was also out, but we had a good heart and played with courage. The young players played well and we’re very happy with what they did. Without a doubt, the worst thing is that we couldn’t control the rebounding at all in either game. I think the team worked hard and well both on Friday and today. Tactically, we worked well. We were very prepared. We lost because of our lack of physical quality and rebounds."

Players

WEEMS, SONNY
CSKA Moscow
"We had high expectations at this Final Four, so it was hard to play this game, but we got the win. Third place does not mean much to me, because I want to win championships; hopefully we will get another chance next year and win it. It was hard to fall asleep after the semifinals, because we did not show up for that game. Today, we had to have pride and show we are better team than what we played Friday."
TEODOSIC, MILOS
CSKA Moscow
"Of course it is never easy to play games like this third place game. But we wanted to finish the Euroleague season with a win and I'm glad we succeeded in that. I have to say that this Final Four leaves a bitter taste, but I hope we will learn lessons that will help us next year."
KAUN, SASHA
CSKA Moscow
"We didn't play well in the semifinals, but today we played much better. We have pride and we wanted to show that today, even if it's not as exciting as playing in the title game. Barcelona is a tough opponent and they played us till the last seconds, and also had a chance to win, but we came out on top. We're not used to playing for third place, but we're CSKA and we didn't want to leave the Final Four without a win. It was very difficult to get this win, and like all wins, especially close ones, it's very sweet."
JACKSON, AARON
CSKA Moscow
"We came here thinking about how we're going to win the trophy, but we didn't play well on Friday and ended up playing today for the third place. We needed to make a switch in 48 hours from the loss to this game, because nobody wants to lose both games in the Final Four. Barcelona put up a fight as we expected, but we found the way to win. On the last play I ended up guarding Ante Tomic, who's much taller than me, so I fought to stay between him and the basket, and I'm very happy it worked out. This win is very important for us even if it's not for the Euroleague title."
RABASEDA, XAVIER
FC Barcelona Regal
"We had to play hard and compete; we couldn't leave London without doing that. We had a solid Euroleague season and couldn't finish it with a bad game. We were unlucky, because I really think we deserved to be fighting for the Euroleague title until the end. We go home with a bitter taste in our mouths, but the Spanish League playoffs are around the corner. We cannot let these losses affects us, because a big title is up for grabs."
HUERTAS, MARCELINHO
FC Barcelona Regal
"I think the team did the best it could. We had a game-winning shot in our hands which unfortunately didn't go in. We had a good effort and it is too bad that we finished in fourth place. We came here to win this title. It is a tough game to play. CSKA had a strong start after the break and got an important lead. We managed to get back in the game, but couldn't win in the game. We wanted to get this win to finish the Euroleague season with a good taste in our mouths, but maybe this Final Four has not been fair to us, considering the season we had. Of course, we have to think about it, but we have to look forward to the Spanish League playoffs."
LORBEK, ERAZEM
FC Barcelona Regal
"We really missed Nate Jawai in this game. He is a very important part of this team. We have to leave the Euroleague season behind as soon as possible. This game is a reference on how to find the way to overcome a bad start and play better, which is what we did today."