Last three days were very busy with travels both by planes and buses so the team could see Moscow only under the wings of OrenAir aircraft. The coaching staff decided to skip full evening practice limiting the team to tactical lessons in the hotel.
“We play second road game in three days and coaching staff will do the best to inform the players about our next opponents,” CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis said. “We play Nizhny quite often, last time in VTB League playoffs, so we know much about the team. Though they are not playing in Euroleague this year, they started the season with two wins in Eurocup and had a good start in VTB League. Now their main point of emphasis is Mahalbasic, the big man who receives many passes inside. Also, despite the lack of injured Maynor, the team has a number of experienced players like Khvostov, Antonov, Baburin, Grigoriev who deserve much attention. We expect difficult game, so we have to find right chemistry to maintain the tempo we have recently.”
“Relativity” connections
Nizhny Novgorod Club’s Board Director Sergey Panov played for CSKA during 10 seasons (1994-2000, 2002-06). He was the team’s captain in his second stint.
CSKA guard Dmitry Kulagin played for Nizhny Novgorod from 2009 to 2011, forward Pavel Korobkov – from 2012 to 2014.
Prior to that, from 2009 till 2012, Korobkov played for Lokomotiv-Kuban with Maxim Grigoriev. Nikita Kurbanov also played there with Grigoriev last season.
The Army Men athletic trainer Evgeny Burin worked for Nizhny from 2010 to 2012.
Dmitriy Khvostov was a teammate of CSKA Moscow guard Vitaly Fridzon at Khimki Moscow Region from 2011 through 2013.
Though they’ll miss the game due to injuries, Joel Freeland and Eric Maynor played for the Portland Trail Blazers together in 2012-13 season.
Ivan Strebkov is the Army Men junior project alumni – he started to play for the Red-Blues in 2006. He played for the main team last year.
Past matchups
Win-loss record: 15-2
03.01.2011. BEKO PBL: N.Novgorod – CSKA: 60-95 (+35)
22.01.2011. BEKO PBL: CSKA – N.Novgorod: 85-53 (+35)
13.04.2011. BEKO PBL: N.Novgorod – CSKA: 94-89 ÎÒ (-5)
06.09.2011. BEKO PBL: N.Novgorod – CSKA: 62-79 (+17)
01.04.2011. BEKO PBL: CSKA – N.Novgorod: 97-53 (+44)
02.12.2012. VTB United League. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 83-60 (+23)
03.03.2013. VTB United League. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 70-68 (-2)
09.06.2014. VTB United League. Finals. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 54-65 (+11)
10.06.2014. VTB United League. Finals. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 59-86 (+27)
13.06.2014. VTB United League. Finals. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 82-66 (+16)
21.12.2013. VTB United League. Finals. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 59-84 (+25)
29.01.2015. Euroleague. Top 16. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 103-95 ÎÒ (+8)
27.03.2015. Euroleague. Top 16. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 82-86 (+4)
06.04.2015. VTB United League. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 83-75 (+8)
21.05.2015. VTB United League. Semifinals. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 86-79 (+7)
23.05.2015. VTB United League. Semifinals. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 97-77 (+20)
26.05.2015. VTB United League. Semifinals. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 80-92 (+12)
Short dossier
Nizhny Novgorod
Founded: 2000
Colors: white, black
Homecourt: Labor Unions Palace of Sports (5,000)
President: Dmitry Svatkovsky
Head coach: Ainars Bagatskis
Website: www.nn-basket.ru
Accomplishments: VTB United League runner-ups (2014), Russian Championship runner-up (2014), Superleague B champion (2010), Russian Cup finalists (2011)
