By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Crvena Zvezda put on a huge fight against CSKA Moscow, even leading by 50-42 early in the third quarter, however, the Russian powerhouse managed to bounce back and outplay them in crunch time to grab a 78-76 home win in EuroLeague Round 4.
It was a tied game at 71 with three minutes left when Nikita Kurbanov secured an offensive rebound for CSKA which led to Iffe Lundberg’s driving layup. Alexey Shved followed up with a block and a three-pointer while Lundberg completed the 7-0 run with a mid-range shot and basically decided the outcome.
Zvezda made it a two-point game at the end thanks to Nikola Ivanovic’s two and Nikola Kalinic‘s ‘improvised’ three-pointer at the buzzer.
Coach Dimitris Itoudis wasn’t happy with his squad’s performance but gave them props for turning things around, especially so due to an improved defensive display after the break.
“We improved the defense, as I said at halftime we had sucked on defense. With the last three-pointer that counted we gave up 33 points, but still, we were much better, you could see we hustled, we were in a different defensive mode. Although in the third quarter we were sloppy again, the players realized we got to play much better defense, play physical, we got to put our bodies and jeopardize and sacrifice something. It’s not easy to make a turn, but what always matters is who is healthy and the players that are healthy kept it living so I congratulate them with my heart,” he said.
CSKA has lost Toko Shengelia this week to injury but Clyburn with 18 and Shved with 16 points stepped up scoring-wise. Johannes Voigtmann added 12 and Joel Bolomboy 11 points.
Clyburn, the top scorer of the game echoed the coach’s words: “The second half, defensively [was crucial]. We managed to play better defense and make some stops that kind of turned things on offense for us. [The coach told us at halftime] we got to play our basketball, we got to play better.”
For Crvena Zvezda, which has got its own roster issues, Ognjen Kuzmic reminded of his prime days with 14 points (7-7 shooting) and seven rebounds while Nate Wolters scored 16 and Ognjen Dobric ten points.
CSKA improved to a 3-1 record with this win while Crvena Zvezda split up its four games and stands at 2-2.