CSKA — ASVEL, 08 April 2021

CSKA – ASVEL Villeurbanne: 88-70 (+18)

CSKA: Hilliard (8 + 2 as), Hackett (7 + 4 rb), Clyburn (4 + 3 rb + 5 as), Kurbanov (2 + 3 rb), Eric (21 + 9 rb + 3 st) – start; Lundberg (23 + 4 rb + 4 as + 3 st), Khomenko (DNP), Ukhov (0), Antonov (3), Strelnieks (7 + 4 rb + 3 as), Voigtmann (13), Lopatin (DNP)…

ASVEL: Diot (8 + 3 as), Fall (4 + 3 rb), Lighty (5 + 2 as), Yabusele (23 + 4 rb + 3 to), Cole (15 + 4 as + 3 to) – start; Kahudi (3), Lacombe (2 + 2 as), Noua (0), Hayes (0), Walton (4), Bako (6 + 4 rb + 2 as + 2 bs), Strazel (DNP)…

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

Congratulations to the team and especially to those players who will take part in the Euroleague playoffs for the first time. With one game before the end of the regular season, we finished second in such a competitive league. There were many unexpected results here: for instance, Asvel beat Barcelona (the winner of the regular season) twice. The teams had a difficult time with the COVID, with injuries, and we are the champions in this. Even today we had to play without Toko [Shengelia], who had his eye pocked the day before. I have repeatedly told the players that in the absence of others, we share a heartfulness. And it helps. Today we faced the team that has size, that attacks well from beyond the arc, has a lot of creators. We started well, but allowed the 0-8 at the end of the second quarter and had a lot of lapses in the third. We talked a lot about it, first of all, in timeouts, we found the right combination of players - with Iffe [Lundberg], Eric and Jojo [Voigtmann], facing Asvel's “small” lineups, with Yabusele at 5. And we bounced back from all the lapses with 18-0 run, and reacted well to the switch defense. I hope we will be healthy, get the injured players back and be ready for the playoffs.