Right word, CSKA wants to say "thank you." For the fact that his players, coaches and workers took on a week-long load of excitement and responsibility, which inevitably looms on the eve of the main match of the season. Fans, to whom, involuntarily, journalists joined, could only have fun. Who like, and the author of these lines was not at all upset by the lack of intrigue. Honestly, I wanted something like that. Like the victory of good over evil, common sense over unnecessary surprises.
Thanks to the coach. At the press conference, he joked a lot and smiled, but he believed implicitly that the words about the week before such a match were hurting his stomach non-stop and his wife hated him. Still, a strange job with Ettore Messina. A week ago, even before the Tel Aviv meeting, he mentally prepared the wards for the third match in the series, on Wednesday said that there was no need to especially prepare anyone, and on Thursday he told what was rarely heard from him. Usually the Italian does not give out curtsies and congratulations, but thanks to the fans from the mouth of Ettore sounded completely not on duty. And thanks to Messina for the inexplicable pride in the club. “We reached the Final Four for the fifth time,” the coach boasted of an incredible achievement by European standards. Surprisingly, the coach only relates to the last pair of quartet exits and has only a year in the contract. But what an amazing unity with the club!
Thanks to the fans. Special, personal thanks. They did not just drive CSKA forward, forcing the team to deprive the meeting of intrigue during the first quarter. They chanted the names of the players in the pre-match performance (we had not heard anything like this for a long time), they created an atmosphere in which tears came to his eyes and a lump came up to his throat even for those who regularly attend army matches. Envy of those who first got to basketball was born. And the unfulfilled desire to feel in place of players who are fed by such energy.
Thanks to Matjaz Smodis. Personal. For the fact that at such a distance I heard a whisper in my ear, advising me to throw it in the ring at the first touch of the ball. The Slovenian performed a half-hook, as in training, and left no other doubts in his own class, only in the first quarter gaining 12 points. Further Matyazh again looked like himself, one of the most dangerous heavy forwards in the Old World.
Thanks to all the players. Also not on duty - the present. Everyone who went to the site. Even Human Victory Cigars Tolik Kashirova and Nikita Kurbanov, who managed to participate in triumph. Anton Ponkrashov, who gave us faith in Tel Aviv. Theo Papaloukas, who brought himself a nice double-double, and the fans have a lot of pleasant moments. Trey Langdon, in whom almost everything flew into the ring, including a couple of “three rubles” from the NBA. Lesha Savrasenko, who was fighting under the shields, and Oscar Torres, who combined flying over a three-second zone with accurate long-range shots. Jay Holden, who claimed the title of the most cold-blooded player of the match, a man who worked smartly in defense, and clearly fulfilling coaching orders for positional attack.
Thanks to the memory, after the second quarter, involuntarily resurrected still autumn battles with passengers of the Moscow metro from Napoli. Then, after a stormy start, the disastrous third quarter came, forcing Messina to draw an analogy with gnarled lions. This time everything turned out much more smoothly. “We're still hungry,” Signor Ettore retorted, reminding himself of the technical details. How “Maccabi” used four defenders at the same time, how exhausted zone protection. And then he issued a key phrase: CSKA acted exclusively from a position of strength. All changes in tactics were strictly orthodox - the team completely returned to reliable schemes that were tested in the regular season. It was the Israelis who had to urgently come up with something tricky (except for the obvious trump card in the person of Yasaytis, we did not notice anything), and the owners rushed along the rut.
Thanks to the numbers that impartially recorded such crazy percentages of hits by Muscovites (72 - from the game, 52 - three-pointer), that the center “Maccabi” Yaniv Green could only utter, supposedly, the opponents seemed to send all the balls that were thrown into the ring.
Finally, thanks for the opportunity to once again be under the arches of the ultra-modern KLA in Athens, where, in fact, in the beginning of May the Final Four will take place. The rival CSKA will be the Spanish “Unicaja”, which for some reason does not want to be afraid. But there remains “Panathinaikos”, which consists of three fives, which any European club would gladly use as a starting point. Someone has three more weeks to starve, torment with a sick stomach and fight with his wife ...
Nikolai TSYNKEVICH