Those who constantly monitor the games of the army team should know: if the team has problems in the first minutes, it is too early to sprinkle ashes on the head. Although this time it seemed that the serious training of the Badalonians, coupled with the loss of Vanterpool by the Muscovites, could bring serious grief. As soon as Rudy Fernandez met the ball several times, it seemed that stars of this magnitude had not yet come across in this CSKA draw. The world champion worked miracles: not even half the starting quarter had passed, as Rudy got twice from afar (once from the shield!) And closed the parachute with a slam dunk. It is curious that in the subsequent adjustments of Ettore Messina, the main thing did not change: Trajan Langdon, who seemed to be clearly inferior to his opponent in mobility, was not removed from Fernandez. But Messina, obviously, knew something that was not available to other observers. Having brought 15 points to the army team before the break, Rudy couldn’t do anything really right when his team began to resemble a late passenger, looking grimly at the departing train.
The starting pressure of the Spaniards, with sharp horns of attacks that attacked the defense of the hosts, also included the presentation to the Moscow public of the child prodigy Ricardo Rubio. What did we see? A mobile and tenacious game in defense, a good vision of the site (4 assists - the best indicator in the team), 5 points in a row in a short segment of the second quarter - nothing sensational. And thank God - if a 16-year-old kid calmly cracked down on the best club of the continent, this would be a cynical abuse of all European achievements.
And one more thing: Rubio was doubly difficult. Most of the time, he was opposed by Papaloukas, not just the best basketball player of the Old World - a seasoned wolf, who happily enjoyed a young calf. Theo knew very well what prospects were painted in front of the Spaniard, and he grind a tooth on the representatives of the Pyrenees since the defeat in the 2006 World Cup final. Rubio was a bit exemplary, with passes, hits, discounts and even interceptions, according to which the young man leads in the Euroleague. On Wednesday, Ricardo only once stole the ball from opponents, and Theodoros - five times.
Nevertheless, the eyes of the fans were not attracted to a strange prodigy and not to his sniper (Matyazh Smodis is accustomed to accept praise for a brilliant game in attack). In the second quarter, Torres made his debut on the site in the form of CSKA. The Oscar was immediately named a real award for the army men who were urgently looking for a replacement for Vanterpool. The forward from Venezuela scored two points with the first touch - correcting the ball into the ring after a controversial block-shot to Langdon. Then Torres turned into a foul in defense, was rewarded with a pass from Papaloukas in a quick break and drew the line to a successful performance (7 points, 4 rebounds, 4 interceptions in 22 minutes) “three rubles” in the final period.
Messina could only complain that the wards did not cling to the 20-point difference, mined in the third quarter.
Nikolai TSYNKEVICH