CSKA - Lokomotiv MV: 88-82
In the first half, CSKA was able to make their fans adequately worried. The team, whose trademark has long been their defense, was not executing well defensively. Things went better offensively, as if there were nothing in the way. The ball refused to stay on the perimeter. This and that CSKA player drove into the lane, often completing pirouettes worthier of a circus artist.
Lokomotiv went ahead from the very beginning and held a 6-point lead by the middle of the first quarter. CSKA quickly erased the lead, but fell behind again in the second quarter to Loko, which was powered by two black players: Englishman Danny Lewis and American Johnny Taylor. The score was 32-40 with 5:04 left to play in the half. What’s more, Lokomotiv’s Russian players didn’t look too bad either: guard Vasiliy Karasev was hitting from behind the 3-point line, and when Lokomotiv began to pull away from CSKA, forward Andrey Tsypachev was scoring.
Dusan Ivkovic waited until there were two minutes left in the half to call a time-out for the Army team in order to make defensive adjustments. It worked. The halftime score was 46-46.
The third quarter proved to be better for CSKA. The team, literally not having gone into the locker room at the half, got its act together defensively and finally started making free-throws, propelling them to an 8-point lead, 64-56 with 2:49 left in the third quarter. However, Lokomotiv came back to almost tie the score by the end of the period. A 3-pointer by Karasev, the game’s leading scorer, left CSKA with a small lead at 67-64.
The fourth quarter was almost a repeat of the third. With 1:59 remaining until the final buzzer, Victor Alexander put CSKA up 84-73. This would be the Army team’s-and, indeed, Lokomotiv’s-largest lead of the game. The home team gave up some initiative at this point, but there wasn’t enough time remaining for Lokomotiv to catch up.
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