CSKA Moscow and Fenerbahce both got off the mark in the EuroLeague Playoffs by beating Baskonia and Panathinaikos, respectively on Tuesday night.
The reigning EuroLeague champions CSKA Moscow relied heavily on talisman Milos Teodosic as they scored a 98-90 win over Baskonia in Game 1 in the Russian capital.
Teodosic hit four three-pointers and dished out five assists as he scored 22 points in the win. But despite the victory, the Serbian admits that his side should do better.
“I don’t know how we won this game,” Teodosic confessed. “We played seriously but we made too many mistakes and we cannot play like this in the Playoffs. We need to play the next game more seriously to win. We need to play better to win the next game. If we don’t, we will lose.”
Shane Larkin led Baskonia with 17 points.
Fenerbahce came back from a 16-point deficit to overcome Panathinaikos 71-58 in Athens in steal home court advantage.
Trailing 42-28 at the half, Panathinaikos looked in total control. Then Fenerbahce held the hosts to just 16 points in the second half as they breezed clear to take Game 1.
Bogdan Bogdanovic led the winners with 23 points on 5/6 three-point shots, five rebounds, four assists and a career-high three blocks as he silenced the sell-out 18,310 crowd inside the OAKA.
We played excellent on defence and everyone contributed on offence, scoring some easy baskets in transition,” Bogdanovic said. “This is just one game. This is a best-of-five playoffs series to advance to the Final Four. Nothing is over – we need to fight the same way in two days.
“A couple of weeks ago, in an EuroLeague interview, I said we are unpredictable when we have a full roster. We have so many advantages and showed it in the second half today.”
