CSKA didn’t manage to win the first game after New Year holidays. Just as at the previous meeting of the teams in Athens Army club couldn’t handle PAO snipers at the defensive end. A couple of successful three-point attempts of the Greek club scorers in the fourth quarter didn’t leave CSKA any chance to survive. So the Greens continue to remain on the top of the Euroleague group C.
CSKA - Panathinaikos: 84-89
Quick facts about the game
• From PAO to PAO: CSKA was unbeaten during nearly 2 months – since the game against the Greens on the 9th of November
• CSKA ended its 6-0 winning series in Euroleague
• PAO now leads 7-5 in the official games series against CSKA
• CSKA let PAO to win the fourth quarter by 10 points. It is repeat of the worst result in a single period this season
• JR Holden scored 25 points tonight. It is his high this season in all the official games
Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach:
- It was a very tense game. We let the rival to penetrate through our defense and to have too many open shots from the perimeter. Just as an example usually we let our opponents score 67 points, this time Panathinaikos had 89. And that was surely the key for the game. I don’t know if Vanterpool presence would have changed things a lot. But surely he has a lot of influence on the team and we miss his leadership in the close games like the one.
- CSKA didn’t manage to handle the same players that hurt the team badly in Athens – Spanoulis and Lakovic. Why did it happen once again?
- They both good at dribbling. So we needed to stand by, help each other much more than we actually did to handle them. We had unsolved problems with this part of our team play tonight.
Zeljko Obradovic, Panathinaikos head coach
- It was a tough game. And the winner was determined at the last seconds. And there is no surprise - CSKA is one of the Euroleague favorites. In this kind of games small things, every single possession could become the key for the game.
- Why did CSKA let your team score 89 points while previous Army club opponents managed to put here much lower numbers?
- We play rather fast this season. Plus we played well in the offense tonight and that was one of the reasons for us to come up as the winners.
- Do you regard this win as your coach defeat over Ettore Messina?
- No. It’s a question of small things, faults, errors which are made by every team in every game. CSKA is on rise now, the team plays better and better from game to game. So I think Ettore definitely makes a great job.
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