The match in Treviso had a strange status by default. The famous Italian coach brought from Russia to his homeland the best club in Europe, who had to meet with the famous Italian club led by an American who heads the Russian team. On Wednesday, David Blatt least wanted to think about a second job. Firstly, because his “Benetton” needed a victory like air - after the defeat, getting into the Top 16 will be much more difficult. Secondly, two Russian collections, which appeared on the site as part of the army, already have an “iron” place in the “start” of the national team.
We are ready to argue, Alexey Savrasenko and John-Robert Holden are well aware of their worth. But a true professional differs from a simply talented player in that he does not calm down when the goal appears already in front of him. Alex and Jay were convincing - and “Benetton” could not resist.
Savrasenko began: along with Matyaz Smodis, the army center immediately designated a serious advantage under the ring. The first four goals were scored by these two from under the shield - as if not noticing the zone defense of the hosts with three players below. Blatt, unlike many other rivals of CSKA, remembered well, due to which the Muscovites were by no means the most powerful Po-Ortez. David did not have much choice: Marcus Gory was injured, and Terrell Lyday, who had just recovered, was only occasionally entering the court. Holden was the best one to deal with the Italian “zone”: his “three” became the fifth goal of CSKA - after the defense of “Benetton” began to concentrate more under the ring - and was far from the last (Jay scored 3 out of 5).
Blatt did it all. 68 guest points are a miserable indicator. That's just the strength of the club from Treviso was not enough to collect more than six dozen. The only effective weapon in the arsenal of “Benetton” and a half quarters was Matteo Soranha. The forward of the Italian team scored 19 points in 13 minutes only so that the recruited army defenders deprived the unfortunate hosts of this “trunk”.
CSKA did not invent a bicycle, clearly running off the whole match with the eight strongest. Not everyone succeeded in this brigade, but the successes of Holden, Savrasenko (Aleksey, who used to be considered an ordinary “tower”, now demonstrates tremendous confidence in attacks from under the ring) and Smodish, plus a short burst of sniper Trajan Langdon practiced in defense was enough for that to spend a brilliant third quarter and work out the fourth confidently. The ending of the wards of David Blatt was chaotic, and the Russian national team coach was just right to think about Eurobasket.
Nikolai TSYNKEVICHSEE ALSO:
Double team
Nikita Zagdai and Dmitry Materansky's blog about basketball