CSKA — Pari NN, 15 May 2021

CSKA – N Novgorod: 79-75 (+4)

CSKA: Ukhov (2 + 5 pf), Hackett (22 + 4 rb + 2 as), Shengelia (12 + 3 rb), Kurbanov (7 + 8 rb + 2 as + 5 st + 4 to), Eric (6) – start; Lundberg (2), Khomenko (0), Antonov (7 + 10 rb + 4 pf), Voigtmann (10 + 9 rb), Kochergin (DNP), Clyburn (11 + 4 rb + 2 st + 6 to), Lopatin (DNP)…

N Novgorod: Astapkovich (14 + 3 rb + 5 pf), Strebkov (7 + 5 rb + 2 as), Toropov (9 + 3 rb + 2 as + 5 pf), Vorontsevich (5 + 11 rb + 2 bs + 6 to + 5 pf), Baburin (6 + 3 st + 5 pf) – start; Shepherd (12 + 4 rb + 8 as + 5 to), Komolov (22 + 2 as + 2 st), Chadov (0), Gontar (DNP), Petrasek (0), Gerasimov (DNP), Gavrilovic (0)…

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

I would like to congratulate my team for qualifying to semifinals. At the same time I want to say “big congratulations” to Nizhny. In all this years that I am [working] here Nizhny is doing very serious job, they are producing players, playing on the highest level, playing in the EuroLeague and BCL Final Eight, being well-organized and having clear targets of what they want in this sport. They are always giving us some tough times. It was obvious in all three games – and we were coming after 13 days, after playing playoff with Fener – that this [break] did not help us at all. We were completely out of rhythm, we weren’t knocking down shots, we had bad percentages of the free throws. We weren’t ourselves. All players have tremendous wish to help the club, to improve the situation, they are giving their best effort but they are going through the wall sometimes. We will try to break it. It took a lot of composure, belief and fight to get through Nizhny, it’s good that it happened. Because the sequence of events during the game… Iffe Lundberg felt dizzy and he couldn’t help the team, tell me if it’s not a bad luck? Let’s wish that he has nothing serious. Losing a player like this… And we still don’t have Joel [Bolomboy] with us. This is a very tough and challenging season. But I am saying to my players that they have to do some meditation, they need to talk and enjoy what are they doing. It’s very important. Cause when you’re going through the stress, you gonna do bad things. That was probably one of the reasons [of our difficulties in the game]. Definitely Nizhny is playing good defense, I congratulate them. They want to foul, they always play on the level of foul. I knew that we were going to shoot from 25 to 45 free throws, depending on the day. That’s their strategy, and I respect it. Once again, congratulation to both teams. We don’t have much time as we are in imbalanced situation. We had 13 days after Fener and now we will play back-to-back games. The other teams that are not in the Final Four will have some breaks.