USA - Duo too much for CSKA Moscow

KOLN (NBA Europe Live) - Allen Iverson scored 28 points and Samuel Dalembert added 15 points and 18 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers dominated Euroleague champions CSKA Moscow 85-71 in Wednesday's finale of the 2006 NBA Europe Live tour.

Moscow were never able to find an answer against the intimidating Dalembert, who registered five blocked shots and helped hold the Russians to 41 percent shooting.

"If he plays like that it's going to hard for anybody to beat us," Iverson said of Dalembert. "We just have to jump on his back and enjoy the ride. He was like a one-man show."

"He was tough. But what's good is that we kept attacking the basket," CSKA guard J.R. Holden said of Dalembert's presence. "They let us have jump shots and we just couldn't hit them."

With Dalembert clogging things on defense, Iverson was too quick for Moscow, as he got to the foul line 17 times - making 12 of them. In comparison, the entire Moscow team shot only 15 free throws.

"How many times did they get to the line and how many times did we? That's hard to understand," Holden added.

But CSKA Moscow coach Ettore Messina admitted that his troops were just tired after beating Maccabi Tel Aviv a night earlier in a 48 minute game - eight minutes longer than they are used to.

"It was difficult to find the open shots. I knew with our veterans that it was going to be a difficult game," the coach said.

"Our offense was slow and sloppy and we couldn't get an advantage, not with pick-and-rolls or with our post-up play."

Philadelphia was always in command except midway through the second period when Moscow grabbed the lead 24-23 on a David Vanterpool basket.

But the 76ers used a 15-0 run and held CSKA scoreless for more than five minutes to break the game open.

The Russians had one run left in them as their defense forced Philadelphia to miss 14 of 16 shots as Moscow went on a 14-3 run to make it a 54-46 game with three minutes remaining in the third.

But Maurice Cheeks' side used a 16-2 surge spanning the third and fourth periods for their biggest lead of the game - 75-51 with less than nine minutes to go.

Trajan Langon led CKSA with 16 points and Matjaz Smodis had 13 points.

Theodoros Papaloukas played only eight minutes after slightly pulling a leg muscle  The Phoenix Suns earlier beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 119-102 to finish third in the tournament.

PA Sport