Regular Season Game 4 - November 12, 2008 CET: 18:15 Local time: 20:15 - UNIVERSAL SPORTS HALL CSKA

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
0-0 Top 16 0-0
3-0 Regular Season 2-1
3-0 Overall 2-1

Referees

Crew Chief
MARTIN, JOSE, Spain
Referee
HIERREZUELO, DANI, Spain
Umpire
VOJINOVIC, MILIJA, Serbia

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
78.0 Points 70.3
38.0 Rebounds 30.7
10.7 O. Rebounds 9.7
27.3 D. Rebounds 21.0
13.7 Assists 9.3
8.0 Steals 9.0
6.0 Blocks 2.7
12.3 Turnovers 15.7
56.6 % 2PT 55.4 %
39.1 % 3PT 33.3 %
70.1 % FT 64.9 %
98.7 Index 70.0

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
11.7 / Zisis Points 15.7 / VUJANIC, MILOS
7.7 / MORRIS, TERENCE Rebounds 9.3 / Gonlum
2.0 / Savrasenko OR 3.0 / Gonlum
5.7 / MORRIS, TERENCE DR 6.3 / Gonlum
4.0 / HOLDEN, J.R. Assists 3.0 / Thornton
1.7 / LANGDON, TRAJAN Steals 2.3 / Gonlum
4.0 / MORRIS, TERENCE Blocks 1.3 / SMITH, CHARLES
2.7 / Lorbek Turnovers 4.7 / VUJANIC, MILOS
80.0 % / Lorbek 2PT 75.0 % / KAKIOUZIS, MICHAILIS
100.0 % / KEYRU, VICTOR 3PT 50.0 % / KAKIOUZIS, MICHAILIS
100.0 % / Khryapa FT 100.0 % / SMITH, CHARLES
15.7 / MORRIS, TERENCE Index 18.0 / Gonlum

THE TAKE

Two of the best teams in Group D are set to face each other in the Russian capital on Wednesday where reigning Euroleague champion CSKA Moscow hosts Turkish powerhouse Efes Pilsen. CSKA is the only unbeaten team in Group D, while Efes is hoping to bounce back from its first Euroleague loss against Panionios On Telecoms last week. CSKA enters this game with two starters, J.R. Holden and Matjaz Smodis, sidelined due to respective injuries. There is some good news for CSKA, as versatile Andrei Vorontsevich is back in action – and had 20 points in a Russian Cup game this weekend. With Holden out for the second consecutive week, Zoran Planinic and Nikos Zisis are set to share the point guard duties. Planinic has the tough mission of playing against Milos Vujanic, who has been unstoppable lately. Meanwhile, Zisis will test his skills against creative playmaker Ender Arslan. Efes is really deep at both wings, with experienced shooters like Charles Smith, Preston Shumpert and All-Euroleague second team selection Bootsy Thornton. Shumpert and Thornton will have a key matchup against Final Four MVP Trajan Langdon, who played a game-high 36 minutes against Real Madrid last week. Meanwhile, Smith will have the tough mission to guard Euroleague MVP Ramunas Siskauskas, in a key matchup for the outcome of this game. Cenk Akyol may have a key role against Siskauskas due his athleticism and quickness. Meanwhile, forwards Vorontsevich and Viktor Khryapa could be difference-makers with their deep shooting range and power. As usual, CSKA will rely on All-Euroleague big man Terence Morris and former Rising Star award winner Erazem Lorbek as its main references in the paint while Smodis stays sidelined. Morris faces a big challenge against Kerem Gonlum in a matchup of two of the best defensive big men around. Meanwhile, Lorbek and center Aleksey Savrasenko will test their skills against Kaya Peker and recently signed Dwayne Jones. Michalis Kakiouzis will try to use his speed and experience against Khryapa and Morris. These teams face each other for the first time since the 2006 Quarterfinal Playoffs, when CSKA swept Efes on its way to win its first Euroleague title since 1971. Efes looks for its first road win against CSKA since 1999, when Efes downed CSKA 98-105 in double overtime to reach the Euroleague Quarterfinals. When a host of experienced stars like these teams boast take the court, fans can expect nothing but fireworks in a big Group D showdown.

GAME QUOTES

CSKA Moscow
  • Small forward Ramunas Siskauskas is 2 steals away from reaching 100 for his Euroleague Basketball career.
  • Swingman Trajan Langdon spent the 2003-04 season playing for Efes Pilsen. He helped the club win the Turkish League championship and come within one win of the Euroleague Final Four. Three players from Efes’s current roster – Kaya Peker, Cenk Akyol and Ender Arslan – were teammates of his then. Langdon has only played Efes Pilsen twice since he left the team, averaging 18 points on 7-for-12 three-point shooting in the 2006 Quarterfinal Playoffs.
  • Guard Nikos Zisis scored a career-high 22 points against Efes Pilsen in a March 2005 game. Zisis, then with AEK Athens, won the game with a miracle shot at the buzzer for a 70-69 victory. He fell down, got up and hit a turnaround three-pointer over two defenders as the horn sounded to finish a heroic comeback from 13 points down late in the third quarter.
  • Guard Zoran Planinic set his career-high in assists against Efes Pilsen in a January 2007 game. Planinic, then with Tau Ceramica, dished 10 assists in a 78-84 road win in Istanbul.
Efes Pilsen
  • Guard Milos Vujanic is 21 points away from reaching Tyus Edney for 20th place on the Euroleague Basketball career scoring charts. He enters this week’s game at CSKA Moscow with 1,349 points.
  • Big man Kerem Gonlum needs just 3 more steals to reach 100 for his Euroleague Basketball career.
  • Forward Michailis Kakiouzis is 17 points away from reaching 1,500 for his Euroleague Basketball career.
  • Efes Pilsen leads the all-time series against CSKA Moscow 7-4. Efes won five in a row between 1997 and 2003, but CSKA has won the last three, including sweeping the 2006 Quarterfinal Playoffs 2-0.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
CSKA Moscow
"Even though Efes Pilsen has lost against Panionios in the previous game, they can win on any given night. They have very good shooters with Smith, Thornton and Vujanic, so they are very dangerous from outside. They just need time to become a better team. We still play without Holden and Smodis and we expect another tough game."
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Efes Pilsen
"Of course, it’s a very hard game for us on the road. Our defense is getting better match by match. The only problem is that our offence is not at the level that we planned before. If we are able to solve the problems on offence, than we can have a chance to challenge CSKA Moscow. They are the titleholders of last season and the top favorite for this season, too. For sure we will go there to get a win as we are always building our plans on it. They changed some couple of key players on their roster, but are still so strong and have the best coach of Euroleague, Ettore Messina. The adjustment period of the new players has been cut so short because of this reason. The players have changed, but the winning system did not. Anyway, we will do our best to snatch a win there."

Players

LANGDON, TRAJAN
CSKA Moscow
"Efes has a lot of talent, a lot of good, experienced guards. And it is always interesting to play against guys you know for a long time. When I was playing for Efes, our team had Peker and Arslan, and though we don't talk regularly, I'll be glad to see them again."
SHUMPERT, PRESTON
Efes Pilsen
"Obviously CSKA Moscow has a very good team. First of all, we have to play well; we have to get together to win. It’s a very difficult game for us. I mean they are a really tough and experienced team. I have confidence in my team doing a good job there in Moscow. What we need to do is to stick together as a team. We have to find a solution after losing to Panionios on Telcoms at home last week and the solution can only be another away win."
Ramunas Siskauskas - CSKA MoscowDefending champion CSKA Moscow used a record breaking three-point shooting performance to bury visiting Efes Pilsen 90-68 in the Russian capital on Wednesday night. CSKA tied the Euroleague record with 18 three-pointers made and smashed the record for best accuracy by shooting 72% from downtown. Head coach Ettore Messina’s side improved its perfect record to 4-0 in Group D ahead of a trip to Belgrade to face Partizan next week. Meanwhile Efes Pilsen dropped its second straight to fall to 2-2. It will host Real Madrid next. The hosts never let any doubt into the outcome of the game as Zoran Planinic hit a three on the opening possession and Terrence Morris followed with triples on the next three trips downcourt as CSKA opened a big lead that it never let up. The lead grew to 38-11 in the second period and rested at 47-27 at halftime. Efes never got closer than 17 the rest of the way. Ramunas Siskauskas led the way for CSKA with 19 points on 4-for-4 three-point shooting. His last three with a minute remaining matched the most threes hit in a game this decade, 18 by Lottomatica Roma in December 2003. Morris made a career-high 5 triples en route to 17 points, while Trajan Langdon also hit 5 times to account for his 15 points. Planinic added 14 points and 8 assists and Erazem Lorbek had 11 points and 7 rebounds for CSKA, which was coming off an incredible 20-for-28 three-point effort in the Russian League over the weekend. Charles Smith had a great three-point day of his own, hitting 6 of 9 for 22 points, but it was not enough for Efes, which also got 11 points from Ender Arslan.

Kerem Gonlum - Efes PilsenCSKA took charge from the start with Planinic hitting a three on the opening possession and then Morris nailed 3 straight triples from the same spot on the wing. In between, Bootsy Thornton hit a three in between Morris's first and second threes for Efes’s first basket. Head coach Ergin Ataman took a timeout to calm his troops, but that didn’t trouble CSKA as Langdon added another triple. Planinic scored from close range for the first points not from behind the arc and Lorbek added a free throw for an 18-3 CSKA lead midway through the period. Thornton struck again from downtown, but the hosts continued to roll as Siskauskas converted a three-point play and soon a Nikos Zisis basket in transition gave CSKA a 21-point lead. An Arslan triple made it 27-9 at the end of the period.

A Planinic basket in transition followed by a Siskauskas triple from the corner saw the CSKA lead grow even more. Thornton fed Michailis Kakiouzis for a basket in the paint – Efes’s first points inside of the game – but back-to-back threes by Viktor Khryapa and Siskauksas made it 38-11. Preston Shumpert got on the board for the visitors and Kerem Gonlum scored twice inside as Efes started to show signs of life. Kakiouzos added a three after a Siskauskas basket and soon Smith buried one form the corner to get Efes within 19. CSKA head coach Ettore Messina took a timeout to refocus his charges and it helped as Zisis rifled in a three and then fed Morris for an alley-oop slam before Gonlum hit a hook to make it 47-27 at the halftime break.

Trajan Langdon - CSKA MoscowSmith opened the second half with a three-pointer, but CSKA quickly re-asserted its dominance with 11 unanswered points – including a pair of threes by Langdon – to go ahead 58-30. Kakiouzos scored inside for Efes, but another Morris triple kept the momentum with the hosts. Milos Vujanic scored his first points for Efes and Smith hit another three and added a fast-break layup to bring his team within 63-42 only for Langdon to step up from downtown. Morris shined again with a pretty pass to Lorbek and Langdon followed with his fifth three of the game. Thornton scored for Efes, but Morris ended the period with his career-best fifth triple to make it 74-47 with 10 minutes to play.

Smith kept firing away for Efes, hitting three times from downtown to give him 6 for the night and cutting the difference to 76-56. But after a timeout, a Planinic three and a Lorbek jumper left no doubt as to the outcome. The closing minutes began to resemble an all-star game, with little defense and lots of running. Andrey Vorontsevich committed an unsportsmanlike breakaway foul on Cenk Akyol and Arslan hit a three for Efes. A record-tying three by Siskauskas with a minute to go iced the win as CSKA continued its unbeaten start.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Euroleague.net
Referees: MARTIN, JOSE (ESP), HIERREZUELO, DANI (ESP), VOJINOVIC, MILIJA (SRB)
Attendance: 4000
By Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow27202716
Efes Pilsen9182021
End of Quarter1234
CSKA Moscow27477490
Efes Pilsen9274768
Head coach: MESSINA, ETTORE
CSKA Moscow
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
6 ZISIS, NIKOS 27:25 5 1/6 1/2     2 2 5         2 2 6
7 KEYRU, VICTOR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 SISKAUSKAS, RAMUNAS 30:28 19 3/6 4/4 1/1 1 2 3 5     1   3 1 23
12 LORBEK, ERAZEM 22:09 11 5/9   1/2 4 3 7 1 1 2   3 1 3 12
14 SAVRASENKO, ALEKSEY 17:51 6 3/5     3 2 5     2 1   2   6
20 VORONTSEVICH, ANDREY 4:10   0/2       1 1     2     2   -5
21 LANGDON, TRAJAN 29:05 15 0/4 5/7   1 2 3 1 1       1 2 15
23 SHVED, ALEXEY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
24 KAUN, SASHA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
31 KHRYAPA, VICTOR 15:32 3   1/2     3 3 1   2     2 1 3
34 PLANINIC, ZORAN 21:23 14 4/5 2/3     2 2 8 4 1     3 3 25
44 MORRIS, TERENCE 31:57 17 1/2 5/7   1 4 5 3 1 2         21
Team           2   2     2          
Totals 200:00 90 17/39 18/25 2/3 12 21 33 24 7 13 2 3 16 12 106
43.6% 72% 66.7%
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN
Efes Pilsen
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
7 SMITH, CHARLES 25:17 22 1/2 6/9 2/5   2 2 1 1       2 4 21
9 SHUMPERT, PRESTON 22:50 4 1/3 0/1 2/2       2   1       1 3
11 THORNTON, BOOTSY 34:15 8 1/2 2/4   2 4 6 5 1 3   1 2 1 12
12 GONLUM, KEREM 33:44 8 4/6     1 2 3 1   1 2   2 1 10
13 VUJANIC, MILOS 15:38 4 1/1 0/2 2/2   1 1     2     1 1 1
14 PEKER, KAYA 4:53   0/3     1   1 1   1 1       -1
15 KAKIOUZIS, MICHAILIS 27:00 9 3/6 1/4     5 5   1 1   1 1   6
21 JONES, DWAYNE 3:01   0/1             1 1     1 1 -1
22 ATSUR, ENGIN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
32 GULER, SINAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 ARSLAN, ENDER 24:22 11 2/2 2/3 1/1       1   3     3 5 10
55 AKYOL, CENK 9:00 2   0/2 2/2   1 1 1 1         2 5
Team                   2           2
Totals 200:00 68 13/26 11/25 9/12 4 15 19 12 7 13 3 2 12 16 68
50% 44% 75%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
CSKA Moscow
"We played a good game. We had an excellent start to the first and second halves. On defense, we did everything necessary to play against Efes's pick-'n'-rolls and shooters. But I'd like to point out: we played against a good team, so we can be satisfied with the work we did. You can look at the stats, at the number of assists, steals, rebounds to understand why."
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Efes Pilsen
"We started very bad. For me the biggest surprise was the tempo of the game. Tactically, we tried to close the paint, but Morris started to hit one three-pointer after another, though in Madrid he was 0 for 8. After this start, we went down and showed a very bad game. CSKA played its basketball and we just followed. CSKA scored 54 points from the three-pointers alone: their offense was running like in the book. It is normal to lose to CSKA in Moscow, but not like this."

Players

LORBEK, ERAZEM
CSKA Moscow
"We played really good tonight and I'm happy to win with a big difference against a team like Efes Pilsen. We managed to applicate what our coach told us before the game. And I think we did it pretty good. We were good on both levels of the game. We outrebounded them and also had a respectable percentage from the three-point line. The most important thing is to stay resistent on defense in the game for all 40 minutes and I think this is the thing that makes us different than the other teams in the Euroleague."
GONLUM, KEREM
Efes Pilsen
"It was just like a nightmare, from the start until the end. We were too weak on defense and they punished us like they never did anyone else before. It was just like the two teams met with their best and worst performances on the same night. We knew that it was going to be really very tough, but never thought we might lose in that way. It was really very late when we shook ourselves and tried to find solutions in the game. They killed us with their high percentages, especially from the three-point line. We have to think about our mistakes and try to not to repeat them again because this season is not as long as the previous years."
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