Photo: red-army.ru
Of course, there are winners and losers in the war. The first is easier - they have proven their superiority and can continue to bend the general line. The second is more difficult - they need to lick their wounds, look for reasons for optimism. At the same time, both those and others have to feel like victims ...
At the same time, the audience felt themselves to be the ancient Romans, who came to gaze at the gladiators' fights. Someone like blood, someone in a thrill to raise or lower their thumbs, noisily discussing the participants in the action, and someone is interested in art.
True, I really wanted to write about something else. Or, since the participants in the CSKA - Dynamo series were so determined to go to battle, go to Khimki, where the Moscow Region club with UNICS really played basketball. But the status of the great confrontation was too weighty argument, and the tight schedule - the beginning of the fourth matches was shared only an hour and a half - made it impossible to get there and there without teleportation. Alas…
The face of Ettore Messina, who had just won the finals, did not express great joy. He coined words, as if he thought over each for several hours. “In this series, we were obviously stronger. They lost the second match because they did not show their basketball. We will always remember that our players showed decent behavior, did not bend under the pressure that turned our fights into a war. Before and after the second meeting, I heard and read a lot of unpleasant words, stupid words, designed to discredit our club. This was a lie, and I really would not want to face it again. Attempts to start a war cannot bring anything good. ”
Such a war could have been fun. There, experts in America sincerely regretted that the recent meetings of Detroit and Chicago were held in a friendly atmosphere, with smiles, handshakes, phone calls and joint dinners. Say, these teams do not reach the great confrontation of the late 80s, when representatives of the same clubs sincerely hated each other, were ready to break on the site. They say that in such confrontations there is no place for friendship, and enmity and hatred are vital. There's something about it? We were ready to believe ...
“No,” snapped Messina. “And I will explain to you why.” Do you know Asker Barcho? He, a respected man, one of the Dynamo players hit in the face during the break of the second match. Then he called him at the club, asked for forgiveness ... But an apology here is of little importance. Such actions are unacceptable. "
The legendary army masseur, the famous Grandfather, was not the only victim. Fortunately (if this turn is applicable here), the rest of the victims happened on the site. I don’t even want to mention the continuous trash talking that both sides sinned. “Well, the end is to you,” is the cultural translation of Anton Ponkrashov’s appeal to Dmitry Khvostov at the beginning of match number three. Well, at least Anton acted like a man and answered with excellent play for words. Because the mud was too much.
Dusan Ivkovic never realized that it was a war
On Sunday, Sergei met with knee in knee. It seems unintentionally, but it hurts. And Dushan Ivkovic had more problems: Papadopoulos had injuries (relapse in the fall), Popovich, on the eve of Domani's pain… The number of options became less, and there were more passions. Messina thanked the players for their excellent behavior. Ivkovich praised Papadopoulos, who is practically not training now, for his discipline. But the provocateur Smodis, as if inadvertently moving towards Lazarus and hitting his face in his face, ran into the too harsh reaction of the Russian Greek - the center Dynamo, without hesitation, sent the Slovenian to the knockdown, throwing his elbow in the head of his opponent. And then, towards the end, having sealed his broken lip, Matyazh somehow waved a hand from Lazaros as a child, earning a legitimate unsportsmanlike foul.
Alas, Dushan Ivkovich never realized that it was a war. Aggression continued to shine in the voice of a gray-haired Serbian specialist. He habitually - with hostility - accepted the innocuous question of permutations in the starting lineup, where Gill appeared instead of Bykov, although he answered equally habitually wisely: “I like to use Bykov together with Khvostov, but Khvostov was under a heavy load, because Holden defended against him - one of the best personalists of Europe. But Bykov is not so good at organizing attacks, in the previous match for the first quarter he made two losses. And in vain you focus on such details. This NBA starting five is a sacred cow. In Europe, often the result is players leaving the bench. You too must teach this to youth! ”We would be glad to help ...
Another eminent Duda was waiting for another tirade about refereeing. They were not mistaken: “I do not understand the appointments of the arbitrators. In all matches they made decisions against our team. I know what I'm talking about - everything is documented in our videos. I don’t understand why, for example, the Circle judges four games in our series, although Russia has enough talented young referees. This negatively affects the image of Russian basketball. After all, many games in Europe watch these matches in Europe. ” The gun of indignation Ivkovich could not shoot all the charges ...
Nikolai TSYNKEVICH