Not so spectacular but effective

Crvena Zvezda Belgrade vs. CSKA: 81-86 (+5)

Crvena Zvezda: Brown (10 + 4 as + 2 st + 3 to), Lazic (6), Baron (15 + 3 rb + 2 as), Jagodic-Kuridza (3 + 3 to), Stimac (11 + 4 rb) – start; Punter (12 + 4 pf), Perperoglou (3), Davidovac (4 + 4 pf), Gist (11 + 4 rb + 4 as), Simanic (DNP), Jovanovic (DNP), Ojo (6 + 5 rb + 4 pf)…

CSKA: James (29 + 3 rb + 3 as + 3 to), Strelnieks (2), Voigtmann (6 + 3 as + 4 pf), Kurbanov (8 + 4 rb + 2 as + 2 st), Hines (6 + 10 rb + 2 as + 4 pf) – start; Bolomboy (2), Antonov (2 st), Hackett (19 + 3 rb + 2 st + 3 to), Sant-Roos (2 + 5 rb + 2 as), Koufos (3 rb), Hilliard (12 + 3 rb), Baker (0)…

That third quarter gave us a boost. I think that we went in with a good defensive mentality to make stops, and at the same time trusted our system. All the shots we missed in the first half were good shots. We had to trust our ball movement to make shots, which happens eventually, and we did that. Essentially, you’ve got to read the defense. They were switching a lot, so we had to isolate and play a little bit more like that. But overall, I think it was a good win for us, for my team, and we’re looking forward to the future. Big or small, it’s a win, and that’s something important in this league. We had our good moments, they had theirs, but we were expecting that it would be a tough game.