The VTB League quarterfinal best-of-5 series starts on Thursday and Friday at USH CSKA. Army men will face Krasnye Krylia Samara.
“We start the VTB League playoffs and we are still affected by disappointing loss in the semifinal of Euroleague,” CSKA head coach Ettore Messina said. “We need to regain our confidence, the confidence of our fans and environment. Both games against Krasnye Krylia in the regular season of PBL were difficult, they were decided in the very end, so we know that we have to prepare well and to show our best game to win.”
The team from Samara made army fans nervous both times this season. In the home game Chester Simmons could send the game into overtime but missed from outside. In the away game Sonny Weems made the winning three-pointer for the red-blues with 11 seconds left.
CSKA did not have actual days-off after the games in London. Monday was spent on the way back to Moscow, and the team started its preparations on Tuesday. Only Dmitry Sokolov (hamstring) practices individually.
VTB Teams:
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