Honestly, Maccabi was of particular interest. Without lowering the requirements for results, the club conducted a major restructuring. Partly not from a good life. The legendary coach Pini Gershon left, Tel Aviv left the main playmaker Willie Solomon, and one of the most striking European basketball players Anthony Parker is now working off his preseason at Toronto.
Who was added? Young point guard Will Bynam, not hooked on the basis of the Lakers. Bynem creeps nicely under the ring, but even less explosive Solomon looks like a dispatcher, not to mention Professor Sarunas Jasikevičius, who brought the “yellow” to two Euro titles. Parker who replaced Parker, Rodney Buford, who played a lot for Philadelphia and starred in Panathinaikos, so far seems to amuse himself and the coaches with the thought that he needs to get used to the way the new team plays.
Meanwhile, in Maccabi, which has the most massive and noisy armada of fans in the Old World, they don’t intend to delay the process of addiction. That's why they invited one of the top coaches of the continent Neven Spahia, who began without hesitation to tailor the established schemes of the two-time Euroleague champions. First of all, the actions of the Telavivites became slower and more measured. In addition, the Croatian specialist so far behaves as if he is caring for the future of the Israeli team: the leading roles in the line-up of yesterday’s youth team Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin are on the first roles.
However, rather, such changes are caused by the further progress of CSKA, whose game drawing has become only more interesting since the Euroleague final. The defense is so harmonious that one of the best center continents Nicola Vuychich allowed at least something to distinguish only in the second half, when the advantage of the army is approaching the “twenty”. The Bynem runner is made from impotence to throw a bandage from his forehead onto the floor. And veteran Derrick Sharpe, who is able to single-handedly turn the tide of the meeting, is immersed in deep oblivion. Neven Spahia still has a lot to do so that revenge is possible at least theoretically.
In turn, the CSKA positional attack, which was limping on both legs in the era of the late Ivkovic and early Messina, is now predictably built through a company of "big ones" who manage without Alexei Savrasenko’s "clockwork" and confirm from match to match: there is no other such set in the Euroleague no one. Or maybe not only in the Euroleague.
The unexpectedly made it to the finals of the Cologne tournament "Philadelphia" guys like David Andersen, Matyaz Smodis and Thomas van den Spiegel, so elegantly fit into the basketball ensemble from Moscow, no for sure. But there is Chris Webber, most recently considered perhaps the best heavy forward in the world, and Allen Iverson, four times becoming the best NBA sniper and recognized MVP of the regular season.
Only the Philadelphia super duet is no longer afraid. At least because of the Barcelona fiasco. CSKA is now much worse. Make sure on Wednesday?
Nikolai TSYNKEVICH