CSKA — Lokomotiv Kuban, 13 May 2016

For the first time in four years our team made it to the Euroleague championship game, confidently beating Lokomotiv-Kuban in difficult game.

CSKA vs. Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar: 88-81 (+7)

CSKA: De Colo (30 + 3 rb + 4 as + 3 to + 4 pf), Teodosic (8 + 6 as), Fridzon (13), Vorontsevich (9 + 4 rb + 3 bs), Higgins (7 + 4 pf), Khryapa (9), Kurbanov (4 + 6 rb), Hines (8 + 7 rb + 3 to)…

Lokomotiv: Delaney (26 + 3 rb + 4 as + 4 pf), Singleton (4 + 5 rb), Randolph (13 + 11 rb + 2 bs), Draper (17), Claver (2 + 5 rb), Janning (7), Broekhoff (12 + 5 rb + 4 to + 4 pf)…

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

I would like to congratulate my players, my team. They were focused, determined and decisive. We controlled almost everything in the game. We were the better team and deserved to win. We came up with a plan to take Lokomotiv out of their offensive game. We were good in our planning, and congratulations to the players for staying focused. You could tell in the players’ eyes that that game was ours. It’s a great accomplishment for the club, but we all know why we’re here, and we want to win the title. We are willing to take all chances on Sunday.

Nando De Colo, CSKA guard:

We had a good game. I think we were able to execute everything we wanted on the court. And the most important is that we stayed together no matter what happened. We just kept doing our job. One game is done – one to go. Now we need to relax a little bit and then stay focus for the next one.

Vitaly Fridzon, CSKA guard:

Final Four atmosphere is always special, it’s exciting and I like that. We had enough time to scout Loko game and its players. It’s difficult to stop each of them but we tried. When Loko got six points to reach us we were calm and confident and finished it positive.