CSKA vs. Partizan NIS Belgrade: 88-46 (+42)
Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach:
We have to remember that Partizan’s game was affected by the absence of several injured players. Still I think we did everything in a right way, we played great defense, protected the paint and put the pressure on their shooters. On the other side we moved the ball well and quick and that positively influenced our shooting percentage. It was very important that we had a lot of fans on the stands – that helped us a lot. We will continue to work hard and hopefully to win.
Dusko Vujosevic, Partizan head coach:
Congratulations to CSKA with the well-deserved triumph which is expressed by the final margin. The opponents played with great focus throughout 40 minutes. It is the fact that we had three players injured: Musli stayed in Belgrade, Kinsey could not play because of back spasms and Westermann landed unfortunately and injured his knee, which will be evaluated later. That shortened our rotation but overall it cannot be taken as an excuse for our bleak game. It should be mentioned that CSKA was highly motivated after two losses and I warned my players about before the game. Taking into account the age of the players and injuries we had no high expectations. The outcome is still very painful for me but we have to look forward and prepare for the next game.
Vitaly Fridzon, CSKA guard:
We had really hard practices because we understood that the game is highly important for the team. Especially after two losses to Fenerbahce and Barcelona. Also had five days for preparing during which we tried to do our best. Coach just dotted all the “i”s. Everybody in CSKA knows its role. Next game we’ll try to be more responsible. It is very important to qualify for Top 16. We wanted to feel the taste of the win again. We played hard as crazy trying to get that.
