CSKA — Astana, 11 April 2021

PRE-GAME BREAKDOWN

The loss of Dani Hackett, who injured his shoulder in the meeting with ASVEL, further reduced the rotation for Dimitris Itoudis. Joel Bolomboy (ankle), Mike James (suspended), Nikola Milutinov (shoulder) and Janis Strelnieks (out of VTB League roster) also remain out.

WORD TO THE COACH

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

We are focused on playing upcoming VTB League game, but at the same time one of our goals is to heal the injured players. Astana has some COVID cases but they still have actually all their main creators, so we prepare for the game normally, knowing how the opponents play.

“RELATIVITY” CONNECTIONS

Valery Tikhonenko, Astana General Manager, is a legend of CSKA. He played for the Army Men for 5 seasons (1985-87, 1997-2000) and coached the team for 2 years (2000-02).

Martins Meiers played together with Janis Strelnieks at Ventspils during 2009-10 season.

PAST MATCHUPS

Win-loss record: 21-0
Game of 2020-21 season:
23-Sep-2020. Astana – CSKA: 60-93 (+33)

SHORT DOSSIER

BC Astana (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan)
Founded: 2000
Colors: yellow, blue
Home court: SC Velotrack/Saryarka (9,270).
President: Valery Tikhonenko
Head coach: Emil Rajkovic
Website: pbcastana.kz
Trophy case: 7-time Kazakhstan champion (2012-15, 17-19), 7-time Kazakhstan Cup winner (2011-14,17-19), FIBA Asian Champions Cup bronze winner (2017).