What are these surprises? Who decided to intimidate whom? Ettore Messina denied speculating journalistic speculations about David Vanterpool’s training with his subsequent inclusion in the application for the semifinal, with a phrase that shocked those present at the press conference: “Before the game, I called Sergio (Scariolo, Unicaja coach. - Ed.) And explained the situation to him. For the team, it was important to have Vanterpool nearby as an active player. For David, this is equally important. Therefore, we made this decision as a sign of love for David, and did not want anyone to think about deception. " So ... In the end, and the horse (read - to the ordinary fan of CSKA) it was clear that in such a difficult match young Kashirov and Vorontsevich are unlikely to appear on the court.
“Eto byla slozhnaya igra,” Messina said in Russian in response to congratulations from the Sport Today correspondent and added in English. “But they did not believe me when I predicted this.”
It turned out, and the truth is not easy. Even though the ace of Scariolo - Marcus Brown - tried too hard, having managed to make a loss and miss in the first couple of minutes. Nevertheless, Unicaja gritted its teeth and began to show the character that pulled it into the Final Four. Fabulous calm of Cabezas, the greed and efficiency of the entire Spanish team allowed her to cling to the result for a long time. Scariolo will then say that in any case he is proud of the players, and Messina will confirm that the opponent played with aggressiveness, stiffness and heart.
Suddenly the intrigue was triggered by the inaccuracy of the army team when throwing from a distance, and the tight pressure that the Unicaji basketball players grabbed the CSKA defenders on the other half of the court. Scariolo Messina managed to solve the idea soon - the Unicaji coach noticed that his pressure was reserved exclusively for cases when an opponent uses one playmaker. When Holden and Papaloukas were simultaneously at the site, such activity became useless. But Messina soon abandoned the idea of giving respite to her dispatchers.
And yet in the third quarter the result was scary. The team from Malaga reduced the slight lag behind CSKA and even stepped forward, although it lost its jaw in the passage under Cabezas’s shield. In addition, recognized army snipers desperately anointed, and Holden in one attack managed to miss twice from afar. “Unicaja” began the last segment with a long-range shot that brought her one point ahead, and the army sector, diligently but unsuccessfully trying to shout down the green armada (the Spaniards, naturally, were sickly and pulled up to the second semifinal of Pao fans), froze in perplexed and awaited change.
They followed. Reliable Theo Papaloukas (“In recent days he had to work hard to train himself, train a team, book tickets and book a hotel,” Messina joked) calmly organized an attack in which David Andersen scored (he started his burst of activity with five hits in a row - everything from the front from four meters), and Trajan Langdon performed “play of the game”. “I just got into traffic, I got a ball that I managed to transfer to the ring,” the American tried to “explain” himself. “It's great that we did not despair, continued to attack and try to defend ourselves and under someone else’s shield.”
With the hit of Trey, in fact, the killer jerk of CSKA 12-0 began, stretching for a good 8 minutes (!). The forces of Unicaja were not infinite. “I wish good luck in the finals to the great CSKA team,” Scariolo admonished his friend without a trace of anger.
Nikolai TSYNKEVICH, Athens