CSKA beat Panathinaikos in first semifinal game

andrei kirilenko cska moscow final four istanbul 2012

After first 10 minutes of first semifinal game, I am sure that most of Basketball fans believed that Panathinaikos will easily win this game.

Panathinaikos played excellent, great game, great tactics. First, Alex Maric dominated under baskets, and after that Panathinaikos were shooting well for three-point.

But, in second quarter, CSKA finally started to play, and it seems that they just woke up in second quarter, and we saw real fight.

CSKA allowed Panathinaikos to score only 5 points in second quarter. I couldn’t believe what’s going on the court.

Third and fourth quarter both teams played good, and I believed that we will see tight win or even go in overtime.

CSKA had some more luck in last 20 seconds, and I am still confused why Dimitris Diamantidis didn’t take that shot for three-point. This could be a winner.

Zeljko Obradovic and Panathinaikos bench had a lot of complaints about referees decision (better say they didn’t call traveling of Milos Teodosic)

CSKA wins 66:64, and will play in title game. Who will be the opponent we will find out in few hours, after second semifinal game between Olympiacos and FC Barcelona Regal.

Andrei Kirilenko led CSKA with 17 points and 9 rebounds, Alexey Shved scored 15 points and played very important role in CSKA win. Milos Teodosic scored 12 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.

For Panathinaikos, Sarunas Jasikevicius scored 19 points, Mike Batiste scored 11 points.