CSKA Moscow, Russia vs. «Khimki» Khimki, Russia

CSKA Moscow defeated Khimki Moscow Region at home, 100-93. The Army Men jumped out to a big lead in the 1st quarter and controlled the momentum until a 4th-quarter run from the visitors tied things up with five minutes left to play. CSKA, nonetheless, held on for the victory, improving to 3-0.

Intro
These two teams met in the 2015 VTB United League finals, when CSKA swept Khimki 3-0 to defend its title. Entering today's game, both teams were undefeated (Khimki at 3-0 and CSKA at 2-0), and excitement was high in Moscow for the first game of the season between the two heated rivals.

The Red-Blues had to play without center Joel Freeland, but got Viktor Khryapa back from injury. Khimki, meanwhile, had a full, healthy roster.

Both teams went with tough, physical defense in the opening minutes before CSKA broke the game open with high-octane offense. Vitaly Fridzon got it started with a dunk in traffic, then Hines dunked on a fast break and scored on a putback in the paint. That helped CSKA to a 31-21 advantage entering the 2nd quarter.

The Army Men remained in control during the second period and led by 12 at halftime, 59-47.

Khimki struggled out of the locker room. While CSKA scored 20 points in the 3rd quarter, Khimki was held to 19 and trailed 79-66 with 10 minutes to go. The Army Men were especially efficient beyond the perimeter, knocking down 10 of 16 attempts entering the 4th quarter.

But Khimki had one final push left, opening the 4th quarter on a 10-3 run. Even a CSKA timeout failed to work as the visitors tied the score with five minutes to play.

Turning Point
Leading by two with 65 seconds left in the game, CSKA guard Milos Teodosic headed to the line for two huge free throws. The Serb hit both, while Khimki forward James Augustine threw the ball away on the next possession. That was it for Khimki as CSKA closed out the game at the charity stripe, scoring exactly 100 points.

Star of the Game
Nando De Colo. The Frenchman led CSKA in scoring (18) and assists (7) and battled hard the entire game. One key play in the final minutes captured his performance on Monday night: having just turned the ball over, De Colo raced back to block Tyrese Rice and save two points.

Stat of the Game
57. CSKA's three-point field-goal percentage. Both teams attempted 23 long balls, but the Army Men converted 13 to Khimki's 8.

Quotes
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis:
- Congratulations to my players. They showed how much they wanted to win from the start. We set the tone early with our defense. We also had success on offense, using a lot of different options and scoring almost 60 points in the first half. Nonetheless, we expected that Khimki, led by their excellent coach Rimas Kurtinaitis, would find a way to get back in the game and force us to turn the ball over. Although we had our best ballhandlers on the court in the 4th quarter, we were forced into several turnovers. At the same time, I'm satisfied with ow our players made decisions in big moments. We could have wrapped up the game earlier, but that's tough against such a strong opponent.

Khimki head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis:
- CSKA played well...you might even say with twice the energy, which is why we only started to show what we're capable of in the 3rd quarter. The first half was very poor. We let Real score 70 points, but gave up 59 points in the first half to CSKA. It's tough to play with that type of defense. We still got back in the game, but couldn't make it close at the end.

Stats