CSKA — Crvena Zvezda, 18 December 2019

CSKA vs. Crvena Zvezda Belgrade: 100-74 (+26)

CSKA: James (29 + 3 rb + 3 as), Voigtmann (3 rb + 3 as), Hackett (4 as), Kurbanov (11 + 4 as), Hines (4) – start; Bolomboy (17 + 4 rb), Antonov (9 + 4 rb), Strelnieks (5 + 3 rb + 3 as + 2 st), Vorontsevich (7 + 6 rb + 3 as), Koufos (6 + 4 rb), Hilliard (10), Baker (2 + 5 as)…

Crvena Zvezda: Kuzmic (7 + 6 rb + 2 as), Covic (7 + 9 as), Lazic (5), Baron (14 + 3 rb + 2 as), Simanic (7) – start; Davidovac (17 + 3 rb), Faye (3), Dobric (2), Gist (8 + 4 rb), Jenkins (2 + 4 rb + 4 as + 2 st), Jovanovic (DNP), Ojo (2 + 4 rb)…

I like to congratulate my team for the win. Zvezda is a team that always tries and we expected them to come here and fight. We had good moments and bad moments, for sure, but that is basketball, basketball is a game of runs. I emphasized, when they took the lead 54-55 in the third quarter, we had a 20-6 run. We played serious defense and broke the game to a serious margin. The final margin of 26 points is not a real picture of the way Zvezda fought today. We now have two trips, one to Istanbul and another one to Tallinn. Mike James had a great shooting night, but I decided not to give him that much playing time where he could have scored more and make more plays because we have to think about the future.