Frozen in Moscow
Olympiacos would not have gained much by winning in Moscow, since the … final is on Thursday (1/3) against Galatasaray in the Peace and Friendship Stadium. However, the 96-64 defeat was definitely outside the “red” plans.
Dusan Ivkovic’ players showed from the beginning that they weren’t focused enough to play against the team that holds the best record in this season’s Euroleague, contrary to the Moscow team that following the defeat to Galatasaray in Turkey absolutely needed the victory in order to seal the first place and avoid upsets.
The incredible shooting percentages of CSKA in the first half of the game (11/12 3-pointers and only four missed shots in total) led to a 28 point game that actually put a stop to any effort.
The quarters: 30-16, 54-26, 72-44, 96-64
CSKA (Κazlauskas): Τeodosic 14 (4), Lavrinovic 12 (1), Siskauskas 8 (2), Κrstic 6, Κirilenko 11 (1), Voronov 4, Voroncevic 15 (3), Zved 10 (2), Kaun 2, Khryapa 2, Pongrasov 10, Gordon 2.
Οlympiacos (Ivkovic): Hines 5, Antic 7, Spanoulis 12, Dorsey 5 (6 reb.), Pelekanos 7, Papadopoulos, Gecevicius 7 (1), Glyniadakis 6, Papanikolaou 2, Μantzaris 6 (2), Sloukas 7, Law
DUSAN IVKOVIC: I would like to congratulate CSKA for the great game. It is very rare to have a game with such shooting percentages. They only missed four shots in the first half. We used 11 players in the first half and only made six fouls. It was like we were scared. We need to move on. We know we can play better. We have many important games ahead of us and we need to focus.
It was a very emotional moment for me to come back here. I spent three beautiful years here and I’m happy to have met with good friends.
JONAS KAZLAUSKAS: I’m very happy for the concentration we had in both ends of the court. It was a very important game for us and I’m happy for the way we played. Khryapa had practiced with team and seemed to be ready, but I did not to throw him in the fire and that’s why I used him in the end.
VANGELIS MANTZARIS: We are disappointed; we did not expect to be that bad. There are no excuses. It has been a tough night for us and we need to hold our heads high because after the game against Aris we have to play a final and we have to prove that we are not as bad as showed to be tonight. We shouldn’t be looking for alibis after a game like that, but only the way to get better and change our image for the best. We need to find out what went wrong and fix it.
CSKA presented a laser video about Dusan Ivkovic and Jonas Kazlauskas. The face of the Olympiacos head coach was fist formed on white canvas making the first move on a chess board during the three years he was coaching CSKA and then that of Kazlauskas during the two years he was coaching Olympiacos. The duel was then transferred to the present with the two men having exchanged benches. Then a video about CSKA was presented with highlights from the War Horse movie.
Thirty Spartak fans watched the game in Moscow cheering for Olympiacos and also bearing a Greek flag.
The running candidate for the Russian Presidency, President of the New Jersey Nets and former CSKA owner Michail Prokhorov attended the game from the VIP seats while a lot of Russian wearing scarfs with his name on it were also seen in the gym.