Khimki — CSKA, 06 November 2017

Our team was so confident in the clash of two VTB League leaders in Khimki that was not broken even after two unsportsmenlike fouls and ejection of Dimitris Itoudis in last quarter.

Khimki Moscow region vs. CSKA: 81-96 (+15)

Khimki: Robinson (10 + 5 rb + 4 pf), Shved (21 + 3 rb + 5 as + 4 to), Markovic (10), Monya (4 + 3 rb + 4 pf), Gill (6 + 8 rb + 3 to + 4 pf), Anderson (11 + 3 rb), Jenkins (6 + 5 pf), Thomas (13)…

CSKA: De Colo (23 + 5 rb + 9 as + 4 to), Rodriguez (13 + 3 rb + 9 as), Clyburn (14 + 5 rb), Higgins (2 + 5 to), Kurbanov (21 + 5 rb), Hines (15 + 6 rb + 3 st), Hunter (8 + 8 rb + 4 pf)…

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

Congratulations to the team on the win. We played better than our opponent today, especially after the 1st quarter, when we spoke with the players and changed our approach on defense. We respect Khimki: their players, coaches, the entire organization. They’ve had excellent teams for many years and this is a valuable win. It will absolutely give us boost and confidence and show that we can play defense, run, move the ball and shoot a high percentage. During the 2nd and 4th quarters combined, our defense only allowed 29 points to a great opponent. We also had 27 assists. Thank you to the fans who created an amazing derby atmosphere, and to my assistants, who helped out during the game. A separate thank you to doctors Yuri Kozhokar and Andrey Oros. Thanks to them, I was able to be on the bench today, despite back pain. I got two injections before the game. As for the two technicals, now I owe the team dinner. We just need to pick the restaurant. I absolutely deserved the first one. In the second instance, I want to explain that I simply asked the referee to look at a replay of the moment Nando received an unsportsmanlike foul. Later, I was told that it’s allowed in the EuroLeague, but not in the VTB League. That’s another reason for us to think about unifying the rules. It’s not good that we play in different competitions with different rules.