From immediately after the opening tipoff, they sought to make up for the absence of their injured comrade, center Nikola Milutinov. By game's end, his frontcourt mates Toko Shengelia and Johannes Voigtmann had done all that and more, inspiring CSKA Moscow to a 96-100 road win over defending champion Anadolu Efes Istanbul. The duo combined for 40 points and 13 rebounds as CSKA consistently won a rebounding battle that few would have predicted when Milutinov, a record-setter on the boards, was injured.
Shengelia, Voigtmann covered CSKA's hole in the middle
Article
4 mins read
Shengelia and Voigtmann split their team's first 11 points, assisting each other's first shots made, as CSKA established early and consistent leads. They were instrumental again as CSKA built a high lead of 59-75 late in the third quarter. And Shengelia stopped Efes's late comeback try with a put-back dunk and free throws in the game's last half-minute. All told the duo had a combined 56 performance index rating, which was more than any three players together for Efes, showing that their aggressiveness is enough to make up for losing an anchor in the paint.
