CSKA Moscow blasted KK Zagreb 47-89
CSKA Moscow stayed undefeated in regular season Group B by simply overwhelming KK Zagreb Croatia Osiguranje 47-89 in Croatia on Wednesday. CSKA improved to 3-0 and got close to sealing an early Top 16 spot, while Zagreb dropped to 0-3. Nenad Krstic led the winners with 15 points. Andrei Kirilenko added 14, Andrey Vorontsevich had 12 and Sammy Mejia 10 for CSKA. Krunoslav Simon scored 15 points for Zagreb, which was without big man Sean May. Mario Kasun added 14 for the hosts. In two of the biggest keys to this game, CSKA downed 11 of 20 three-pointers (55%) and committed just 8 turnovers. Kirilenko led CSKA to a 13-22 margin after 10 minutes. CSKA boosted its margin to 24-45 at halftime and then again to 35-67 after 30 minutes to keep full control of the game until the final buzzer.
Simon opened the scoring with a layup and Kasun scored on assist by Dario Saric. The visitors needed two-and-a half minutes to score their first points, but then within the next 60 seconds Viktor Khryapa and Krstic scored easy lay-ups and Milos Teodosic hit the first three-pointer of the game for a 4-7 lead. Ramunas Siskauskas and Khryapa extended the CSKA run and then Kirilenko sunk a three-pointer and couple of free throws to make it 4-16 after six minutes. A Simon hook shot ended a 0-16 run and Kasun added couple of mid-range jump shots, but Krstic and Kirilenko used good ball movement for 6 easy points to keep Zagreb at a comfortable distance. With Saric hitting Zagreb’s first three-point shot of the game, the first quarter ended with visitors up 13-22.
Kirilenko opened the second quarter with a three-pointer of his own and added a couple more free throws to become the first double-digit scorer of the game. Zagreb failed to score in the first three minutes of the second quarter until Papa Diasse hit a sweet shot of the glass, but soon after the CSKA lead rocketed to 17-38 lead after Darjus Lavrinovic, Vorontsevich and Aleksey Shved scored back-to-back-to-back three-pointers midway through the quarter. After a timeout by Zagreb head coach Vladimir Androic, Simon continued the three-point barrage and Zagreb came a little closer with Kasun’s nice move in the paint and with Damir Mulaomerovic hitting another three. But in the final minute of the second quarter Teodosic assisted Kirilenko for an alley-up dunk and Krstic scored a layup at the buzzer to end the first half with CSKA in control 24-45.
Siskauskas scored a layup in transition and hit from behind the arc to make it 26-50 in the beginning of the third quarter. Diasse and Krstic exchange baskets from close range and an easy layup by Khryapa extended the lead to 28-55. The Serbian duo contributed, Krstic from inside the paint and Teodosic from the free throw line, before a Kasun tip-in ended the CSKA 2-12 run that pushed the lead to 28-59. Jamont Gordon scored next 5 points for the visitors while on the other side, Ante Masic made a three-pointer and Simon scored both free throws before Shved ended the third quarter with a pull-up jumper that gave CSKA 35-66 lead going into final 10 minutes.
Vorontsevich and Masic traded three-point shots on the first two possessions of the fourth quarter, and Masic scored another one couple of minutes later. Mejia made a tough driving layup in the crowd as CSKA continued to run the floor, and Zagreb tried to disrupt visitors’ rhythm with zone defense, but Vorontsevich hit two threes from the right corner to make it 43-79. Miralem Halilovic dunked for the very first Euroleague basket of his career, but 0-10 run led by Mejia gave CSKA its largest lead of the night, 45-89, just before the end.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Euroleague.net