The Cup is back!

CSKA vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul: 87-83 (+4)

CSKA: De Colo (22 + 3 as + 3 st), Antonov (3), Hackett (12), Kurbanov (0), Hines (3 + 3 rb + 3 as + 3 st) – start; Bolomboy (0), Peters (11 + 5 rb), Ukhov (5), Rodriguez (9 + 4 to), Vorontsevich (2 + 2 as), Clyburn (10 + 2 as + 3 st), Hunter (10 + 3 rb)…

Anadolu Efes: Larkin (2 + 3 rb + 3 as + 4 to), Beaubois (9 + 4 to + 5 pf), Birsen (5 + 2 as), Moerman (12 + 6 rb), Dunston (8 + 4 rb + 2 st) – start; Motum (3), Sanli (2), Tuncer (7), Pleiss (10 + 5 rb), Micic (14 + 3 rb + 7 as + 6 to), Anderson (5 + 3 rb + 2 as + 3 to), Simon (6 + 3 rb + 4 pf)…

Congratulations to the team, to each player. We had strong wish to keep the trophy here, in CSKA headquarters. It was important to win in such distinguished tournament. It was interesting to see how we will play in back-to-back games, even with no travels. And we saw different picture comparing to the previous game. The opponents shot reall well both from 2 and 3. I can be happy about our game in some stretches. We forced turnovers, though we could score more points off them, we just did not take good sometimes. We did not move the ball well, mostly because the opponents put pressure on our ballhandlers. Overall it was a good game of EuroLeague level against talented team with high expectations. I would like to thank the fans who supported us. We have many things to do. First of all, gather all together. We practice without Cory for a week, Misha did not have any single practice with the team so far. We had players missing due to their National Team obligations. I understand that most clubs experienced the same but I think we suffered more because we have so many quality players. So the next three practices before the season starts will be very important.