CSKA Moscow vs. Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
· CSKA won nine straight home games against Panathinaikos and holds an 18-14 advantage in games this century. Panathinaikos beat CSKA 96-84 in Round 15 in Coach Rick Pitino's debut. Ioannis Papapetrou scored 17 points and Nick Calathes 14 points, 10 assists and 3 steals for the Greens.
· CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach at Panathinaikos from 1999 through 2012. He helped the club win five EuroLeague championships, 11 Greek League titles and seven Greek Cups during that span. Only Nick Calathes and Ian Vougioukas are with the club from that period.
· At the 1996 Final Four, Panathinaikos downed CSKA 71-81 to advance to the final and eventually lift its first continental trophy. Dominique Wilkins was unstoppable for Panathinaikos with 35 points.
· CSKA and Panathinaikos met in the EuroLeague championship game in 2007. In one of the best finals in competition history, Panathinaikos beat CSKA 93-91 in Athens. Ramunas Siskauskas had 20 points and Dimitris Diamantidis added 15 and earned Final Four MVP honors.
· CSKA and Panathinaikos met in the 2009 final in Berlin, where the Greens downed CSKA 73-71. Siskauskas could have won it for CSKA at the buzzer, but his shot went in and out. Vassilis Spanoulis had 13 points to lead Panathinaikos and was chosen as the 2009 Final Four MVP. Current CSKA forward Andrey Vorontsevich dressed for CSKA, but did not play.
· CSKA downed Panathinaikos 66-64 in the 2012 EuroLeague Final Four semifinals with Andrei Kirilenko leading CSKA with 17 points.
· CSKA beat Panathinaikos in the EuroLeague Playoffs twice, winning the series 3-2 in 2014 and ousting Panathinaikos 3-1 in 2015.
· Panathinaikos recorded a club record 23 steals in 91-94 double-overtime win in the third-place game at the 2005 EuroLeague Final Four. CSKA pulled down a EuroLeague club record 55 total rebounds in that loss.
· CSKA center Othello Hunter was a teammate of Panathinaikos swingmen Matt Lojeski and Ioannis Papapetrou at Olympiacos Piraeus for two seasons, from 2014 to 2016. They reached the 2015 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Championship Game together.
· Nikita Kurbanov of CSKA and Panathinaikos big man Ian Vougioukas were teammates at UNICS Kazan during the 2013-14 season, when they reached the EuroCup Finals together.
· Dinos Mitoglou posted his career high in rebounds with 7 in Round 15.
· CSKA guard Daniel Hackett matched his career-high with 3 steals playing for Milan against Panathinaikos in November 2014.
· Kyle Hines had a career-best performance index rating of 28 and matched his career-highs of 21 points and 4 steals in an 81-63 home win against Panathinaikos in October of last season.
· Keith Langford had a career-high 36 points against CSKA while playing for UNICS Kazan in October 2016.
· Nikos Pappas had career-highs of 25 points and a performance index rating of 31 against CSKA in an 86-85 victory in Game 3 of the 2015 EuroLeague Playoffs.
· Ian Vougioukas posted his career-high PIR of 25 playing for Zalgiris against CSKA in April 2016.
· CSKA won nine straight home games against Panathinaikos and holds an 18-14 advantage in games this century. Panathinaikos beat CSKA 96-84 in Round 15 in Coach Rick Pitino's debut. Ioannis Papapetrou scored 17 points and Nick Calathes 14 points, 10 assists and 3 steals for the Greens.
· CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach at Panathinaikos from 1999 through 2012. He helped the club win five EuroLeague championships, 11 Greek League titles and seven Greek Cups during that span. Only Nick Calathes and Ian Vougioukas are with the club from that period.
· At the 1996 Final Four, Panathinaikos downed CSKA 71-81 to advance to the final and eventually lift its first continental trophy. Dominique Wilkins was unstoppable for Panathinaikos with 35 points.
· CSKA and Panathinaikos met in the EuroLeague championship game in 2007. In one of the best finals in competition history, Panathinaikos beat CSKA 93-91 in Athens. Ramunas Siskauskas had 20 points and Dimitris Diamantidis added 15 and earned Final Four MVP honors.
· CSKA and Panathinaikos met in the 2009 final in Berlin, where the Greens downed CSKA 73-71. Siskauskas could have won it for CSKA at the buzzer, but his shot went in and out. Vassilis Spanoulis had 13 points to lead Panathinaikos and was chosen as the 2009 Final Four MVP. Current CSKA forward Andrey Vorontsevich dressed for CSKA, but did not play.
· CSKA downed Panathinaikos 66-64 in the 2012 EuroLeague Final Four semifinals with Andrei Kirilenko leading CSKA with 17 points.
· CSKA beat Panathinaikos in the EuroLeague Playoffs twice, winning the series 3-2 in 2014 and ousting Panathinaikos 3-1 in 2015.
· Panathinaikos recorded a club record 23 steals in 91-94 double-overtime win in the third-place game at the 2005 EuroLeague Final Four. CSKA pulled down a EuroLeague club record 55 total rebounds in that loss.
· CSKA center Othello Hunter was a teammate of Panathinaikos swingmen Matt Lojeski and Ioannis Papapetrou at Olympiacos Piraeus for two seasons, from 2014 to 2016. They reached the 2015 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Championship Game together.
· Nikita Kurbanov of CSKA and Panathinaikos big man Ian Vougioukas were teammates at UNICS Kazan during the 2013-14 season, when they reached the EuroCup Finals together.
· Dinos Mitoglou posted his career high in rebounds with 7 in Round 15.
· CSKA guard Daniel Hackett matched his career-high with 3 steals playing for Milan against Panathinaikos in November 2014.
· Kyle Hines had a career-best performance index rating of 28 and matched his career-highs of 21 points and 4 steals in an 81-63 home win against Panathinaikos in October of last season.
· Keith Langford had a career-high 36 points against CSKA while playing for UNICS Kazan in October 2016.
· Nikos Pappas had career-highs of 25 points and a performance index rating of 31 against CSKA in an 86-85 victory in Game 3 of the 2015 EuroLeague Playoffs.
· Ian Vougioukas posted his career-high PIR of 25 playing for Zalgiris against CSKA in April 2016.
Game Facts - CSKA Moscow
Roster
Coach Itoudis has used 11 different players in CSKA's starting lineups this season; no player has started in every EuroLeague game.
Streaks
Will Clyburn has recorded a performance index rating in double figures in 20 of his last 21 EuroLeague games.
Nando De Colo has made at least 1 three-pointer in 12 of his last 13 EuroLeague appearances.
De Colo has made 28 straight free throws in EuroLeague games.
Andrey Vorontsevich has made 11 straight free throws in EuroLeague games.
Cory Higgins has made 12 consecutive free throws in EuroLeague action.
Rankings
Will Clyburn is tied for fourth in the EuroLeague in average performance index rating with 18.7 per game this season.
Clyburn is ranked fourth in the league in rebounding this season with 7.0 per game.
Cory Higgins ranks second in the league in scoring this season with 15.0 points per game. Nando De Colo is third with 14.8.
Higgins leads the league in three-point accuracy this season at 54.84%.
Sergio Rodriguez is tied for fourth in the league in assists this season with 5.1 per game.
Nando De Colo ranks second in free-throw accuracy this season with 96.0%
Records/Milestones
De Colo is the EuroLeague career leader in free-throw accuracy at 93.92%.
Kyle Hines ranks fourth all-time with 201 blocked shots. Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv big man Alex Tyus is third with 207 and counting.
Hines is third in EuroLeague history with 487 offensive rebounds.
Hines is 11th in competition history with 1,099 rebounds. Mike Batiste is 10th with 1,117.
Sergio Rodriguez ranks fifth on the EuroLeague all-time charts with 1,057 assists for his career; Milos Teodosic is fourth with 1,126 career assists.
Rodriguez is 10th all-time with 355 three-point shots made; Dimitris Diamantidis is ninth with 372.
Daniel Hackett needs 4 assists to reach 500 for his EuroLeague career.
Game Facts - Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
Roster
Thirteen different players have appeared in the starting lineup in EuroLeague games for Panathinaikos this season. Nick Calathes is the only player to start every game.
Evangelos Sakellariou is set to make his EuroLeague debut.
Streaks
Nick Calathes has collected at least 1 steal in 12 straight and 22 of his last 23 EuroLeague games.
Calathes has dished at least 5 assists in 12 straight EuroLeague games.
Calathes has posted a performance index rating in double figures in 14 of his last 15 EuroLeague appearances.
DeShaun Thomas has scored in double figures in six straight EuroLeague games.
Sean Kilpatrick has collected at least 1 steal in six of his seven EuroLeague games.
Rankings
Nick Calathes leads the league in assists this season with 8.4 per game and is second in steals with 1.7 per game.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Georgios Papagiannis are tied for second in the league this season in two-point accuracy at 75.0%.
Records/Milestones
Calathes ranks eighth all-time with 929 assists. Theo Papaloukas is seventh with 977.
Calathes is ranked sixth on the all-time EuroLeague charts with 252 steals. Rudy Fernandez is fifth with 255.
Calathes needs 1 more offensive rebound to reach 100 for his EuroLeague career.
James Gist needs 1 more steal to reach 200 for his EuroLeague career.
Gist needs 47 more points to reach 2,000 for his career.
Keith Langford needs 3 more offensive rebounds to reach 100 for his EuroLeague career.