Pre-game breakdown
The game has no tournament meaning for both teams.
The Army Men will know their playoff opponent only after the games of the 30th Round. If Khimki lose to Barcelona on Thursday or all three teams that currently has 6th to 8th position win, then Russian fans will see another Leningradka Derby. If yellow-blues win and Baskonia loses to Efes, then the club from Vitoria will come to Moscow. Zalgiris loss and wins of its two chasers will make the red-blues come back to Kaunas.
Pre-game quotes
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
We play the last game of the EuroLeague regular season. Zvezda is a talented team that can score a lot of points in different ways, they proved it by having many high-scoring games this season, at home and on the road. This game is important for us because we need to bounce back after poor performance against Zalgiris, we want to finish this stage by playing good basketball. I call our fans to come and support us.
Vitaly Fridzon, CSKA guard:
We think only about winning the game. We had bad game in Kaunas and we definitely cannot afford having two in a row. The main thing is to be focused on our game, to keep playing defense like we played against UNICS in VTB League on Monday, to be effective like we were in our first meeting in Belgrade.
“Relativity” connections
Marko Keselj played for Girona with CSKA assistant coach Darryl Middleton in 2006-07 season.
Kyle Hines was teammates for two seasons with Zvezda big man Pero Antic at Olympiacos Piraeus, where they won a pair of EuroLeague titles together in 2012 and 2013.
Zvezda playmaker Taylor Rochestie and CSKA big man Othello Hunter were teammates at Montepaschi Siena for the first part of the 2013-14 season.
Rochestie played for Nizhny Novgorod together with two army men – Pavel Korobkov (2014) and Semen Antonov (2014-15).
Important numbers
Coach Dimitris Itoudis has used 11 different players in the CSKA starting lineup so far this season. No player has started every game.
Nando De Colo has scored in double figures in 14 of his last 15 EuroLeague games. He has made at least 1 three-pointer in each of his last 6 games; he’s made multiple threes in five of those games and is shooting 17 for 27 from downtown (63.0%) from downtown over that stretch.
Nando De Colo is ranked second among qualified EuroLeague players this season in average performance index rating with 20.2 per game, second in scoring with 17.2 points per game, tied fifth in steals with 1.3 per contest.
De Colo is the EuroLeague career leader in free throw accuracy at 93.55%.
Nikita Kurbanov has made 20 consecutive free throws in EuroLeague games.
Sergio Rodriguez has made 12 consecutive free throws in EuroLeague games.
Rodriguez has collected at least 1 steal in each of his last six EuroLeague appearances.
Sergio Rodriguez is second in the EuroLeague this season with 2.6 three-pointers made per game.
Sergio Rodriguez is seventh on the all-time EuroLeague assists charts with 896. Next on the list is his former Real Madrid teammate Sergio Llull with 902.
Kyle Hines is third on the all-time EuroLeague charts with 440 offensive rebounds for his career.
Hines is fourth all-time with 180 career blocks. Anadolu Efes center Bryant Dunston is third with 186 blocks and counting.
Othello Hunter is tied fifth in the league in offensive rebounds with 2.4 per game.
Khryapa is ranked eighth on the all-time charts with 241 career steals. Khryapa’s former teammate J.R. Holden is seventh with 247.
Khryapa is seventh on the all-time charts with 161 blocks for his career. He needs 1 more to catch Mirza Begic, who has 162 in sixth place.
Past matchups
Wins-losses: 11-1
1969-70 – European Champions Cup. Group stage. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 82-85 (+3)
1969-70 – European Champions Cup. Group stage. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 105-92 (+7)
1972-73 – European Champions Cup. Semifinals. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 90-98 (+8)
1972-73 – European Champions Cup. Semifinals. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 100-83 (+17)
1999-00 – Euroleague. Preliminary Round. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 86-62 (+24)
1999-00 – Euroleague. Preliminary Round. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 65-80 (+15)
2015-16 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 84-74 (+10)
2015-16 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 77-76 (+1)
2015-16 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 71-78 (+7)
2016-17 – Euroleague. Regular Season. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 78-67 (-11)
2016-17 – Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 102-80 (+22)
2017-18 – Euroleague. Regular Season. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 59-85 (+26)
Short dossier
Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, Serbia
Founded: 1945
Colors: white, red
Homecourt: Kombank Arena (25.000)
President: Nebojsa Covic
Head coach: Dusan Alimpijevic
Website: www.kkcrvenazvezda.rs
Trophy case:
- Cup Winners Cup (1974);
- ABA Champion (2015, 16, 17);
- 15-time Yugoslavian champion (1946, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 69, 72, 93, 94, 98);
- 3-time Yugoslavian Cup winner (1971, 73, 75);
- Serbian champion (2015, 17);
- Serbian Cup winner (2004, 06, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
