Euroleague: Nikola Milutinov smashes offensive rebounding record

CSKA Moscow center Nikola Milutinov celebrated his 26th birthday by smashing one of the longest-standing records in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague books with 16 offensive rebounds on Wednesday night in his team’s 87-91 overtime road win over AX Armani Exchange Milan. Milutinov’s effort also helped CSKA set a EuroLeague record for offensive rebounds by a team with 30.

Milutinov clinched the record with 5:20 remaining in the fourth quarter with a missed tip-in of a Janis Strelnieks shot for his 12th offensive board and he didn’t stop there. The scent of the record was in the air early after the big man reached halftime with 9 offensive rebounds.

The previous record of 11 offensive rebounds was shared by three players. Quadre-Michael Lollis was the first to reach that mark with Ulker Istanbul in November 2001. Gregor Fucka matched it with FC Barcelona in February 2005. Almost exactly a year later, Travis Watson of Climamio Bologna joined them in the record books.

Coach Dimitris Itoudis’s men wiped off Unicaja Malaga and Partizan Belgrade from the top of the record charts for clubs. Unicaja’s 25 came at the expense of CSKA in December 2014. Partizan first set the mark in March 2010 against Panathinaikos Athens.

Milutinov notched his fifth consecutive double-double to finish the game with 17 points and a career-high 19 rebounds. He leads the league in both rebounding, with 8.8 per game, and offensive rebounding, with 4.5 The latter number is the most ever in the EuroLeague under the current competition format. Milutinov is also averaging 9.3 points per game this season, his first with CSKA.