Anadolu Efes Istanbul vs. CSKA: 80-81 (+1)
Anadolu Efes: Larkin (18 + 4 as + 2 st), Singleton (5 + 6 rb + 2 st + 4 pf), Pleiss (8 + 5 rb + 2 st), Micic (2 + 3 as + 4 to), Simon (21 + 5 rb) – start; Beaubois (10), Balbay (6 + 2 st), Sanli (8), Moerman (DNP), Tuncer (DNP), Anderson (0), Peters (2)…
CSKA: James (28 + 6 rb + 4 as + 3 to), Voigtmann (15 + 5 rb + 2 as), Hackett (6 as + 3 to), Kurbanov (2 as), Hines (16 + 6 rb + 2 bs + 4 pf) – start; Bolomboy (4 + 3 rb), Antonov (4 + 3 bs), Strelnieks (4), Vorontsevich (3 rb), Koufos (DNP), Hilliard (10 + 3 to), Baker (0)…
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
I am very happy, and pleased for sure. We showed character, I think my team deserves all congratulations. We need each and every one who steps on the court to bring something, and I think we had exactly that. Semen Antonov came off the bench and in deep rotation brought something, Mike James played definitely a great game. We had a concrete strategy on what to do. We played against a great team, a team that stayed the same from last season when they made the finals, and added two players to that group. I gave them a lot of credit before the game and I still believe they play good basketball. That is EuroLeague, you cannot underestimate or overestimate nobody. You got to go game by game. We need time, we are a new team. We are trying to build good bonds. I think we are there. Time has to work with us, but let’s be honest, it would be great to grow up with some wins. Congratulations to my team, but congratulation to Efes, as well.
