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CSKA falls near finish in Toronto
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 Euroleague champions CSKA Moscow finished its two-game tour of North America with a better taste in its mouth after challenging to become the second European team to ever beat an NBA team on its own floor before falling 86-78 to the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday. Despite leading for most of three quarters, CSKA suffered from the relative absence of two of its key big men. Matjaz Smodis turned an ankle and played the game's first 2 minutes only, while Terence Morris fouled out in 12 minutes in the floor and was not a factor. CSKA used great ball movement in the first half to take sizable early leads and nurse them to a 38-47 lead at the break. Things came apart for the Euroleague champs late in the third quarter, when Toronto went repeatedly to its big men, Bosh and O'Neal, to turn around the scoreboard and take a 13-point lead, 60-73. CSKA rallied back to within 78-82 with just over a minute to play, but couldn't complete the comeback. Chris Bosh led Toronto with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Jose Manuel Calderon contributed 14 points, 6 assists, Andrea Bargnani and Jermaine O'Neal 11 points each. Ramunas Siskauskas paced CSKA with 15 points, while Erazem Lorbek added 14, Viktor Khryapa 13, Trajan Langdon and Zoran Planinic 10 each. CSKA ended its tour 0-2, having lost previously to the Orlando Magic.
Anthony Parker started the scoreboard with a hook in the lane, but soon CSKA's defense frustrated Toronto's attemps to shoot inside and came up with its own. Siskauskas dropped a runner and the free throw that came with it, while Lorbek sank an short jumper and a hook. When Terence Morris got loose for a fastbrak layup, Siskauskas fired from mid-range and Langdon popped a jumper, CSKA had a 4-13 advantage. A three-point play by Calderon settled Toronto, which then drew within 11-13, but Lorbek and Siskauskas kept scoring, the latter on a nice ball face and short jumper, as CSKA's ball movement produced both good opportunities and a 13-19 advantage. Three more players - Alexey Savrasenko, J.R. Holden and Viktor Khryapa, the latter with a dunk - joined the CSKA scoring column to give the visitors a 20-25 edge after 12 minutes.
 Khyrapa opened the second quarter with a jumper and Zoran Planinic became CSKA's eighth scorer and first to hit a three-pointer. When Lorbek banked in a shot it was good for a 23-32 CSKA advantage. Next, Toronto went 3-for-5 on free throws in an 8-2 run that featured a jumper by Bargnani and a spinning layup by Roko-Leni Ukic on his first possession on the floor. A timeout gave CSKA a moment to regroup and look for Khryapa, Sikauskas and Langdon, who shared 8 points to keep the Raptors a step behind at 38-42. As the CSKA defense kept up the pressure on Toronto's would-be scorers, forcing off-balance shots, Planinic made up for a couple missed free throws with a big triple and a sweet post-up layup to sent the guests into the halftime lockers with a 38-47 advantage.
A soft jumper by Siskauskas to start the second half established CSKA's biggest lead yet, 38-49, but Toronto responded quickly. Bosh hit a pair of free throws and Calderon nailed back-to-back jumpers to get the hosts within 44-49. The Raptors looked inside to twin towers O'Neal and Bosch next to draw even closer, 53-49. Khryapa kept the hosts at bay momentarily with a pair of jump shots, but back-to-back three-point plays by O'Neal and Bosch tied it up 55-55 with 2:55 left in the third quarter. Foul trouble to Lorbek and Morris, who had 5 fouls in as many minutes on the floor, limited CSKA's options for guarding the paint as Khryapa and rookie Sasha Kaun tried to hold the fort. Khryapa hit 1 of 2 free throws to restore a CSKA lead, but Jason Kapono's free throws meant Toronto's first lead since the game's opening shot, 57-56, and his jumper kept the hosts ahead 60-58 after 36 minutes.
CSKA's woes continued into the fourth quarter, as Bosh and Bargnani scored quickly, then Calderon and Kopono drilled triples in a 16-6 blast that turned around the scoreboard, giving the Raptors a 64-76 advantage with 6:46 to play. By that time, Morris had fouled out and Lorbek was soon to follow, getting called for a moving screen. CSKA did not bow its head, however, and ran a string of back-door plays on which Savrasenko, Siskauskas and Langdon all scored, cutting the difference to 80-76 with 1:53 to play. Sasha Kaun scored inside at 82-78, but Calderon hit O'Neal with a pass for a basket with 1:04 left and CSKA didn't score again.
CSKA Moscow head coach Ettore Messina
"Well, it was an interesting game. Obviously, we had a big problem when Smodis got hurt, because he's our main post-up player and our main big man. Despite this, I think that for at least two-and-a-half quarters, we moved the ball well. I knew down the stretch that with the foul trouble we had and their depth and the fact that we were a little bit tired, it was going to be a problem. But I think we played smart enough until the end, so I'm pleased with the game and I think it was a very good experience.
Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell
"Our defense was good. That's a tough team to play, with all the screens they set. They do a lot of movement. Their bigs can step out and shoot, which our bigs are not used to in the NBA. You can count the teams on one hand in the NBA who have the 6-11, 7-foot guys who can step out and make shots. So it's a tough team that runs a lot of flex, a lot of motion, they set a lot of picks. And, because you're running the shot clock down when you run those sets, we don't see a lot of that in the NBA, so it was tough for us."
CSKA Moscow swingman Ramunas Siskauskas
"We played really bad our first game, and of course we wanted to show that we are much better than what we did in that first game. I am happy because this was a big step forward and we showed that we can play much better basketball. First of all, we did things that we had to do. In the first game, we didn't play our game. We were just running and shooting. Today we did almost everything that we planned, on defense, on offense, and that's why game was different. We have to move the ball quickly from one side to the other side. That's our game. We are strong as a team, so if the ball moves like that, it's much easier to play. Our last two practices and tonight's game were really good, this gives us much better confidence going into the season."
Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh
"There were no cons, only pros. I think we've done a good job of playing defense, we've done a much better job since last year. Just looking at a stat sheet after the games, the first thing I look at is field goal percentage for the other team, what we hold them to. It's been in the 40s in terms of percentage pretty much every time this preseason."
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Euroleague.net
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