CSKA — Zenit, 18 December 2020

CSKA vs. Zenit St.Petersburg: 83-65 (+18)

CSKA: James (20 + 6 rb + 7 as + 4 st + 3 to), Hilliard (13), Shengelia (10 + 2 as), Milutinov (13 + 13 rb), Kurbanov (7 + 3 rb) – start; Khomenko (0), Ukhov (0), Antonov (0), Strelnieks (3), Voigtmann (6 + 6 rb), Clyburn (11 + 2 as), Lopatin (DNP)…

Zenit: Pangos (14 + 2 as), Hollins (0), Thomas (11 + 3 rb), Trushkin (0), Gudaitis (2) – start; Rivers (12 + 4 rb), Fridzon (0), Baron (7 + 4 as), Pushkov (DNP), Zubkov (5), Poythress (12 + 5 rb), Ponitka (2 + 4 rb + 3 as + 3 to)…

We were the better team. Congratulations to my players. We were very focused. I think we played great defense. We managed to stay on our plan and reduce their creativity. We did a pretty good job on [Kevin] Pangos and [Mateusz] Ponitka, their two main creators. They didn't have so many open looks, and in general they kind of tried to slow us down a little bit with changes of defenses, but we pretty much were good at that and we deserved to win. So congratulations to my team, and thank you to the fans. We are reaching the holidays, too, so I want to share my wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and for this 2020 with the virus to end and people to start building again their lives and to look at the future with positivity.