At the post-match press conference, Fenerbahçe coach Aydin Ors found the strength to make a rather unflattering but very well-aimed remark. “There is only one difference between us and CSKA players - they know how to share the ball.” With this remark, the Turkish specialist exaggerated the merits of the wards, but at the same time precisely identified their main drawback. The Istanbul team does not have a team game as such.
What basketball players are, say, Turkan, Flounder and Mrshich, in Russia they know very well. Upscale, but at the same time - selfish, proud and rather capricious (let's not forget about the wayward missed “Maccabi” Willie Solomon who missed a meeting because of an injury). Do not care about personal statistics for the sake of the team? Fear God, for nothing! How Ors (the request not to be confused with the USSR workers supply department) intended to put together a strong squad from such material with a fiery sense of shoulder and elbow is completely incomprehensible.
And, it seems, even to him. Two wins in seven Euroleague matches - the indicator is by no means brilliant.
CSKA came to the supplier city of Moscow markets for a convincing and beautiful victory. It was vitally necessary to restore the shaky reputation after the Kazan defeat: a "hundred" shipped by a fairly right click on a fair, basically lifted nose turned out to be shipped by UNICS.
Nevertheless, the beginning of the game, its continuation, and indeed - what - the whole first half remained with the owners. Sensing the closeness of parting with the Euroleague, the avid individualists from Fener came to their senses and realized that in order to continue the solemn promotion themselves and their loved ones in the Top 16, you need to smell a little for that guy. And, in general, Istanbul managed to create a sense of solidity. The goals set by Ors for feeding with passages - the unknowing “artilleryman” Damir Mrsic and the cabinet-like Kaspars Flounder - were enviably displayed on the roll, respectively, on the trapeze and under the shield. And they did, it is worth admitting, that their business was working properly. In defense against personal guardians, each of the “canaries” (as Fenerbahçe is called here) fought like a uniform Janissary.
It turned out that the latest acquisition of Istanbul, signed in November by the recent “Chicago bull” Eddie Basden, falls out of the synonymous series of previous breeding finds. It was this defense expert who was destined to become a link in the fragmented composition of the Turks. An American with an appetite "gobbled up" the key figure of David Vanterpool's army attack. In addition, Theodoras Papaloukas postponed the awakening to the third quarter. Due to the reasons mentioned above, undoubtedly, the challenging leadership in assists of Alexei Savrasenko ceases to be seen as so fantastic.
However, it was not necessary to talk about the insoluble problems of the red-blue with creation. Repeatedly, the teammates left tete-a-tete with the ring of Matyaz Smodish, whose throws mostly brought not result, but trouble to the arms. The Slovenian did not wait for special help among the partners on the front line. The whole match was hesitating in the “hallway” David Andersen, only embarrassingly raising his eyes to the battle for the ball in the three-second zone. Perhaps the Australian got sick of bothering with contact basketball after becoming acquainted with the murderous anthropometry of Flounder. In any case, the sadder “storyteller” looked only in the original, and therefore unimportant battle with “Napoli”. Savrasenko, however, focused solely on deterring the Latvian "terminator." As a result, these circumstances (coupled, of course, with the coaching staff on this issue) allowed the nominal attacking defender Trajan Langdon to become so far the best in the selection team in the Euroleague.
Looking up from specific personalities, it should be noted that the army team lacked the usual confidence in their own abilities. But then everything fell into place. CSKA emancipated in the attack (Smodis uninterruptedly “went” under the curtain), hung a lock at his shield and no longer plunged into thoughtful reflection. Caught flounder, swallowing Thomas Van den Spiegel’s “spinning bait”. Not getting along with the Belgian "fisherman", after the second shock period, the Latvian lurked somewhere in the depth of three seconds and did not come up anymore. And the organization of the jerk 14: 3 in the third quarter, during which we not only once again became convinced of the sniper talents of J.A. Holden, but also remembered the similar ones of Papaloukas, I thought, finally convinced the fans of red and blue to wander into the kitchen for validol. Oh, if not for football ...
Nikita GOLOVANOV