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BELGRADE—Six-time Euroleague winners CSKA Moscow made a perfect start to the second group stage of the competition after former NBA stalwart Andrei Kirilenko helped them to an 86-78 win at Olympiakos Piraeus on Thursday.

 

Kirilenko, who joined CSKA from Utah Jazz during the NBA lockout last year, was the Euroleague's top performer before he was sidelined for six weeks with a broken nose and a shoulder injury midway through the preliminary group stage.

 

Having opted to stay in Europe's premier club competition after most other NBA players who joined the Euroleague during the lockout went back to North America, Kirilenko made an instant impact upon his return to action.

 

He scored 11 points and had three rebounds and as many assists as CSKA, who last won the title in 2008, registered their 11th successive win and prompted Olympiakos coach Dusan Ivkovic to pour scorn on his team.

 

"This is the top 16 phase of the competition and I can't teach my players how to play defence and when to foul if they don't know that by now," the 68-year old Serbian told the competition's website (www.euroleague.net).

 

Ivkovic's counterpart Jonas Kazlauskas said: "It took us only three minutes to turn the game around in the second half after we stopped (Olympiakos playmaker Vassilis) Spanoulis."

 

Serbia centre Nenad Krstic led CSKA with 18 points while Russia forward Viktor Khryapa added 16 and seven rebounds.

 

Real Madrid, the winners of eight Euroleague titles, earned a dramatic 81-80 success at fellow Spaniards Unicaja Malaga thanks to a buzzer-beater by forward Nikola Mirotic.

 

The lead changed hands several times in a frantic climax before Mirotic, who finished the game with 12 points, hurled a desperate effort which hit the bottom of the net and silenced the home crowd.

 

"We believed until the very end but Real Madrid are a team with many resources," said Unicaja coach Chus Mateo. "I am proud of my team and they really deserved to win tonight, but so did Real Madrid."

 

Holders Panathinaikos Athens strolled to a 78-57 victory at Emporio Armani Milan, 2010 winners Barcelona ground out a 65-60 home win over Italian side Benet Cantu and last year's runners-up Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Lithuanians Zalgiris Kaunas 86-78 away.

 

The top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the best-of-five quarter-final series, whose winners will qualify for the May 11-13 Final Four in Istanbul. — Reuters