Euroleague. Real Madrid vs. BC Khimki 7 april 2016

‪‪BC Khimki‬ lost to a reigning Euroleague champ Real Madrid in Spain in a crucial Top 16 game — 70-83 (28-33, 21-21, 9-12, 12-17) with 24 pts by Rice! The next game our team will play in Khimki vs. Tsmoki-Minsk in VTB United League on Sunday, April 10. The beginning is at 17.00 msk.

BC Khimki: Rice (24 + 4 assists), Koponen (13 + 4 rebounds), Augustine (11 + 7 rebounds), Davis (9 + 5 rebounds), Shved (6 + 4 rebounds), Dragic (5), Monya (2 + 4 rebounds), Honeycutt, Vyaltsev, Ilnitsky, Boone.

Post-game quotes

Dusko Ivanovic, BC Khimki head coach:

"First of all, congratulations to Real Madrid. They are the better team; they played with more confidence than we did. I think there are two important moments in this game. Even when we had a bad start, we were in the game throughout the first half. We allowed 33 points in the first quarter, but stayed in the game. From the beginning of the third quarter, we started to play very static, without movement, and we didn't play the way we should. I have to say it is something that surprised me and it is something we have to change for the remainder of the season. We kept our options open at the start of the fourth quarter, but our offense was very poor in the second half, no movement, no vertical game, and playing like that against Madrid is very difficult. Madrid played good defense, but our problem was not their defense, but our offense, with no movement. We circulated the ball much faster in the first half, playing inside and outside fluidly. We started the second half standing within the same meter, nobody moved. It is easy to play defense against that. I don't have the stats, but we took 26 three-point shots, and almost 20 of them were open".

Petteri Koponen, BC Khimki guard:

"Of course, it is a disappointment. We came here to win, but Madrid is a great team and they did their job. Of course, we knew it was going to be hard. We kept fighting in the first half, but they made a break in the second half. They scored a lot of threes and we missed some open shots. You know, this is basketball and we cannot change anything now. We lost games before that could have made us go to the next round, but we cannot change anything anymore. I think we stopped moving the ball and started to be too static, not moving, not playing together. We didn't score the ball, missed some open shots and stopped moving. We scored 70 points which, for us, is not good. Madrid did a good job, they are a great team and this is why they won the Euroleague last year. Like I said, we are disappointed. We wanted to come here and win the game. We won [here] once already this season and knew it was possible, but Madrid did a good job tonight".