Baskonia — CSKA, 25 April 2017

Our team qualified for the Final Four for the 14th time in 15 years by beating Baskonia in one of the most spectacuar EuroLeague playoff series ever.

Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz vs. CSKA: 88-90 (+2)

Baskonia: Larkin (13 + 5 as), Voigtmann (9 + 4 rb), Hanga (13 + 6 rb + 5 to), Beaubois (4 + 4 as + 5 pf), Blazic (10 + 3 st), Diop (2 + 3 rb + 5 pf), Tillie (3 rb), Laprovittola (3), Shengelia (19 + 7 rb + 4 pf), Budinger (15 + 8 rb + 3 to)…

CSKA: De Colo (15 + 5 as + 7 to), Teodosic (13 + 4 as + 4 pf), Augustine (8 + 4 rb), Fridzon (2), Jackson (10 + 3 to), Vorontsevich (4 + 7 rb + 2 bs), Higgins (21), Khryapa (3 + 5 rb), Kurbanov (5), Hines (9 + 7 rb + 2 bs + 4 pf)…

ёDimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

Big congratulations to my team and to my players again. They deserve a big applause. We had some really injured players for the first time in this series. I am going to say that Teodosic is playing with injections, without practicing almost at all, with a big pain in the foot. We also had other players with several injuries and wanted to help the team. They wanted to show and make a big statement that we are here. We go back-to-back in the Final Four, but this is just a ticket to the Final Four. We want something more and do deserve right now to celebrate the qualification, especially with 3-0 against a great team. Baskonia had a great season and as I said to their coach, he did a great job over here. They have a great atmosphere, great fans and played really good, modern basketball. Let’s not forget that Baskonia made it to the Final Four last year, played overtime to go to the final and the legacy they had all these years is big. A big congratulations to Baskonia, I wish them the very best. It is an honor to play against such a team and great players. I have only the very best to say about Baskonia. Coming back, and last, but not least, I will repeat what I said in the beginning, that the congratulations go to my players. Like we said before the game, they had the character, the wish and the desire to go over there and defend the title, to be a part of history. Big congratulations to CSKA. It is the 14th Final Four for CSKA in 15 years and my third consecutive with the club. We did control the end of the game… mostly. It is obvious that Baskonia recovered, like they did in all three games, other than in Game 1, when they led 88-90 with two minutes left, in Moscow. We had a 10-0 run and won Game 1. In Game 2, we had the lead and may divide the game in two: the first three quarters and the fourth quarter. The first three quarters, we were dominant and then they come back hitting big shots, tying the game in the clutch moments, but we took the win. Today, we had something different. We were over there all the time, both teams. Towards the end, in the clutch moments, we took a good lead of plus-9 and could have handled it differently.