There is one significant change in the Army Men hospital. Joel Freeland started contact practices with the team on Monday. It should be mentioned that the Brit injured his shoulder in away game against Brose on March 24, he had a surgery on May 16. The player war ked hard on his rehabilitation together with medical staff and athletic trainers, he practiced non-contact and one-on-one with Darryl Middleton and other centers previous weeks.
“Darussafaka is playing really good basketball and they are 4-2 now,” CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis said. “I studied all their games in Euroleague, we watched their Turkish league games vs Fenerbahce, Banvit and Besiktas, Andreas [Pistiolis] and all coaching staff did a good job with scouting. Even in the games they lost they were close and fought until the end. Darussafaka is well-coached, they play versatile game with different lineups. Usually when they are down, they use the smaller lineup with Moerman at 5, and Moerman stretches the floor. In the bigger lineup they have athletic centers Slaughter and Aldemir. Clyburn can also play 3 and 4, they use him on the wings with Anderson also. Wanamaker is attacking the basket and they also have good shooters like Batuk, Bertans, Wilbekin and Anderson. Darussafaka has strength and speed, they actually have everything. The only exception is time spent together, because it is relatively new team, still they have hopes, big plans and desire to win. We are going there to fight, we expect a difficult game and we know that we have to be focused through all 40 minutes.”
Past matchups
Wins-losses: 2-0.
2015-16 – Euroleague. Regular season. Darussafaka – CSKA: 75-80 (+5)
2015-16 – Euroleague. Regular season. CSKA – Darussafaka: 94-66 (+28)
Short dossier
Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul, Turkey
Founded: 1914
Colors: black, green
Home courts: Volkswagen Arena (4,500), Abdi Ipekci Arena (12,270)
Chief of the Board: Erman Yerdelen
Head coach: David Blatt
Website: www.darussafakadogusbasketbol.com
Trophy case: 2-time Turkish champion (1961, 62), Turkish League runner-up (1960), Turkish Cup finalist (2002)
