After practice which started at noon the Army Men took OrenAir flight to Bergamo, small airport close to Milan. The Red-Blues plan double-trip: after the Euroleague game they will fly to Minsk for VTB United League game against Tsmoki. Unfortunately the coaches does not have full roster: Vitaly Fridzon broke the middle finger on his right hand during the practice on Wednesday. He has to wear cast and skip several games.
It should be reminded that the win against Olympiacos a week ago guaranteed the home-court advantage in quarterfinal series to the Army Men and put them back on top of the Group F standings. To stay there it is necessary to beat EA7 Milan or expect Fenerbahce-Ulker to lose to Anadolu Efes at home.
“Another game which we treat as the final one,” CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis said. “We want to win and finish Top 16 on the first place in our group. At the same time we know that Milan plays much better now in comparison to the game in Moscow. At the time they missed two players, Gentile and Elegar, so they will definitely run and fight more. The hosts do not have any pressure, they will play for pride and try to please their fans. So we have to be ready for that and play focused to reach our goal.”
Three teams fight for third and fourth positions (potential CSKA opponents) in Group E. Maccabi (8-5) visits Alba (7-6), Panathinaikos (7-6) goes to Crvena Zvezda. Maccabi win clinches the third place for Israelis, PAO stays fourth. Yellows stay fourth if they lose and Greek side loses too. If Athenians win, they stay at fourth place and current Euroleague champs stay out of another title hunt.
“Close” relations
Linas Kleiza was a teammate of CSKA guard Milos Teodosic during the 2009-10 season at Olympiacos Piraeus. Both were members of the All-Euroleague First Team – Teodosic was also named MVP and Kleiza was the Alphonso Ford Trophy winner – after helping the Reds to the Euroleague Championship game.
Sonny Weems and Linas Kleiza were teammates in two NBA teams – Denver Nuggets (2008-09) and Toronto Raptors (2010-11).
Aaron Jackson and Shawn James played for Duquesne University in 2007-08 season.
Important numbers
Milos Teodosic leads the league this season in assists with an average of 7.1 per game.
Teodosic has scored in double figures and made at least 1 three-pointer in 18 consecutive Euroleague games.
Teodosic needs 6 more three-pointers to catch Zalgiris assistant coach Sarunas Jasikevicius for eighth place on the Euroleague’s all-time list with 315 threes.
Teodosic needs 9 assists to tie Carlos Arroyo, who set the Top 16 record last season with 95 assists for Galatasaray. Already last week Teodosic set the single-season Top 16 record for triples with his 41st.
Teodosic has made 13 consecutive free throws in Euroleague action.
Sonny Weems has made at least 1 three-pointer in seven straight and 18 of his last 19 Euroleague games.
Manuchar Markoishvili needs 7 more three-pointers to reach the century mark for his Euroleague career.
Past matchups
Wins/losses: 4-6
1965-66. European Champions Cup. Semifinal. CSKA – Olimpia: 57-68 (-11)
1982-83. European Champions Cup. Final Round. Olimpia – CSKA: 94-86 (-8)
1982-83. European Champions Cup. Final Round. CSKA – Olimpia: 79-78 (+1)
1996-97. Euroleague. Preliminary Round. Adecco – CSKA: 87-74 (-13)
1996-97. Euroleague. Preliminary Round. CSKA – Adecco: 70-55 (+15)
2008-09. Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Armani Jeans: 90-64 (+26)
2008-09. Euroleague. Regular Season. Armani Jeans – CSKA: 80-79 (-1)
2010-11. Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Armani Jeans: 73-88 (-15)
2010-11. Euroleague. Regular Season. Armani Jeans – CSKA: 71-65 (-6)
2014-15. Euroleague. Top 16. CSKA – EA7 Milan: ÕÕÕÕ (ÕÕ)
Short dossier
EA7 Milan, Italy
Founded: 1936
Colors: red, white
Home court: Mediolanum Forum (11,200)
Owner: Giorgio Armani
President: Flavio Portaluppi
Head coach: Luca Banchi
Website: www.olimpiamilano.com
Trophy case: 3-time Euroleague champions (1966, 87, 88), 3-time Cup Winners Cup champions (1971, 72, 76), 2-time Korac Cup winners (1985, 93), Intercontinental Cup winners (1987), 26-time Italian champions (1936, 37, 38, 39, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 72, 82, 85, 86, 87, 89, 96, 2014), 4-time Italian Cup winners (1972, 86, 87, 96)
