CSKA — Panathinaikos, 21 October 2016

The first Euroleague home game was very difficult for our team. We had to chase the opponent most of the second half and got the victory in the final minutes.

CSKA Moscow vs. Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens: 81-77 (+4)

CSKA: De Colo (20 + 4 as + 3 to), Teodosic (6 + 9 as + 3 to), Augustine (8 + 7 rb + 4 pf), Fridzon (8 + 3 rb), Jackson (9 + 3 rb), Vorontsevich (20 + 4 rb), Higgins (4), Kurbanov (3 rb), Hines (6 + 3 rb)…

Panathinaikos: Singleton (8 + 7 rb + 4 as + 4 pf), Nichols (20 + 4 rb + 5 pf), Rivers (16), Bochoridis (2), Fotsis (5 rb), Pappas (4), Feldeine (3), Gist (8 + 2 bs), Bourousis (6 + 3 rb), Calathes (10 + 9 rb + 8 as + 4 to + 4 pf)…

Dimitris Itoudis, head coach:

Congratulations to the team for a second win in this Euroleague marathon, our second game with 28 more to come. Obviously, we opened the game very good, but Panathinaikos came back in a short period with a quick 11-0 run to tie the game. They forced us to play slow, did not let us run the court and managed that slow tempo. We played a pretty good game and we finally found the way to win and to have a lineup that created problems for their switching defense. We knew they were going to switch, but we had bad spacing a lot. This was a good lesson for us in terms of improving our spacing. Congratulations to the players, who found a way to win, and thanks to the fans for coming to our first home game and helping us. We have to realize that this is the EuroLeague, and when playing against teams like Panathinaikos, a proud team built to go to the Final Four, with big ambitions, it takes a lot to win.