Starting from Paris

For the first game of the new Euroleague season our tem visits the newcomers of the top continental clubs’ competition.

In fact, the debutants from Nanterre will also play away from home. Their native town in the Western suburban of Paris does not have the arena which answers the Euroleague regulations. Therefore they have to play in the 5-thousand gym in the South of French capitol. Coincidently, the gym is situated close to Bercy district which is well-known to the army men so the team stays in the same hotel it stayed during the 2010 Final Four. Though actually there are not so many players on the away roster who can share the memories of playing here three years ago – Sasha Kaun, Victor Khryapa and Milos Teodosic, who went to the final game with Olympiacos at the time.

Andrey Vorontsevich (who was one of the heroes of the bronze medal game against Partizan) could be on the same list but he is still slowed down by the foot injury and continues his rehab individually. Alexander Gudumak and Alexey Zozulin also stayed in Moscow (coach’s decision).

Finally, with the start of official season the team enjoys the comfortable Boeing by Transaero which will now fly from Vnukovo airport with army men aboard. The veterans watched with smiles the reaction of newcomers who took their seats. “This is nice!”, Jeremy Pargo said repeatedly, even though he left the NBA recently…

“It’s a start of a new season and everyone is excited to play in the Game 1”, CSKA head coach Ettore Messina said. “Nanterre is coming to the Euroleague after winning the French championship last season with anxiety and enthusiasm. They are good, very athletic, well-coached team. We should not take anything for granted, we should come well-prepared. Defense and ball movement will be the key factors to win there.”