By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow prevailed over Olympiacos Piraeus at home with a 69-65 victory in Round 5 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Sergio Rodriguez was CSKA‘s pillar in this tight victory, as he paced the team with his 20-point performance, and stepped up for the hosts when Olympiacos grabbed the lead. The Spanish guard was fiery from the three-point line, making six out of his ten attempts, while he also handed five assists.
Next to Rodriguez, Will Clyburn was also a big part of the Russian’s win, as he helped the hosts with his 17-point performance in clutch moments of the game, especially when Vassilis Spanoulis (16 p.) tied the score twice in the final minutes.
“You have to play a consistent 40 minutes to beat a team of the caliber of CSKA”, mentioned David Blatt in his post-game quotes. “I think we feel disappointment and we should because we had the opportunity to beat a very good team today.”
The Greek guard missed the chance to place Olympiacos ahead with 37 seconds to go and CSKA was able to outlast this nerve-wracking battle in the end.
This game will also be remembered for one more interesting stat, as Nando De Colo finished with no points for the first time in his EuroLeague career, while he only played for nine minutes during the first half.
Still, Dimitris Itoudis’ squad still remains undefeated while the Reds suffered their second defeat of the season.