The fourth day in Moscow are the basketball players of the NBA club Los Angeles Clippers, who will hold friendly matches here with CSKA and Khimki. However, as the Izvestia correspondent managed to find out, the millionaires have no time for excursions yet. The management of the overseas club decided to protect their basketball players from partying, every minute painting the program for their stay in the Russian capital.
Actually, journalists who want to learn something beyond the information contained in the official press releases and attend open training sessions have a hard time. Numerous security officials have an unequivocal order: "No one should be allowed into the bodies." “Communication is allowed only at official events,” representatives of the team explain. “This is the regulation ...”
However, on the first day, the players themselves did not have a special desire to communicate - the path to Moscow turned out to be too difficult. Still, trips to Europe for NBA clubs are force majeure. In America, basketball players are accustomed to flying a club airplane with chic leather sofas on board and all the conditions for two-meter giants. And although the Clippers do not have their own aircraft, management leases a cozy airplane for the entire season. But the trouble is that it is not designed for flights across the ocean. So the Americans had to get to Russia on a regular flight.
If before Germany in Boeing 747 they were offered a separate business class on the second floor, then after a transfer they unexpectedly ended up in a common lounge with ordinary passengers. “This is probably the only minus that has been for the past three days,” Yaroslav Korolev, stripper Clippers, shared his impressions of the trip with Izvestia. “Many were unpleasantly surprised when they realized that there was nowhere to put their legs. And the passengers who they flew with us, they were shocked: they say, where did these brigands come from ?! You understand, Germans, but they were only on board, basketball is not interesting. "
By the way, on the eve of Korolev’s departure they were bombarded with questions: “What can we expect in Moscow?”, “What is the weather like there?”, “What things to take?”, “Will we live far from the Kremlin?” ... “The main question was probably: where can I go have fun? " - guessed the correspondent of Izvestia. “Yes, they themselves know everything!” She said with a laugh. “No one will get lost ... But seriously, then we don’t have time for parties. Everything is scheduled every minute.”
The Clippers stay program in Moscow began with a speech by team head coach Mike Dunlavy. At the general meeting, he explained to everyone what CSKA is in Europe. “They respect us, and we must respect this club. Moreover, this is the best team in the Old World,” the coach concluded his speech.
A similar educational program was necessary, since no American had any idea about the existence of the Russian team. Only one of the coaches - Kim Hughes, when he played on the continent, was a frequent guest in Moscow. “But I didn’t know anyone in Europe before this visit,” Sam Cassal, one of the Los Angeles veterans admitted to Izvestia. “For us it’s much more important what’s happening in San Antonio, Phoenix. Although now I understand that I’ve lost a lot. This is a great city. I would like to take another time to walk around your capital more. In the meantime, I just looked at it from the bus window and walked a bit along Red Square.
Admires Moscow and Chris Camon, only in training, parting with his video camera. “A good film about your city will turn out,” he remarked, smiling. “There are already a lot of funny stories. Although there aren’t enough tapes to shoot all of Moscow.”
In general, with the exception of Sunday’s visit to Red Square, now the basketball players have the same route: hotel - USK CSKA - hotel. They settled the Americans, by the way, in the comfortable Swiss Hotel, on Paveletskaya. Each has a spacious single room. As for food, here the millionaires were not picky and with the rest of the hotel guests go to a local restaurant.
In training, the basketball players were accompanied by an Izvestia correspondent. Of particular interest was one of their first studies on Russian soil. Domestic referees were invited to serve the two-sided game, and their clippers nearly became dizzy from the speed. In one of the episodes, the Los Angeles player even stopped himself, explaining to our referee: you didn’t notice how I played with my foot!
After the lesson, the basketball players go up to the second floor, where they make a hundred free throws in the training room. True, there are those who are not limited to one hundred. So, for example, the same Kassel just hit 121 (!) Free throws in a row and was very upset when he missed in another attempt. With frustration, he even hit the ball on the floor with all his might.
On Tuesday, the lesson ended with the removal of the cake on the floor. It was the team partners who prepared a surprise for Aron Williams, who turned 35 on Tuesday. It remains to add that today the representatives of CSKA, Khimki and Los Angeles will leave for an orphanage located in the Moscow Region. Under the project, children will be presented with a library with modern computer equipment.
Dmitry Sergeev