Welcome to Moscow!

07.04.2005
Jon Robert Holden (photo M. Serbin)
CSKA qualified to the Euroleague Final Four that will be held in Moscow May 6th – 8th. The second game of the quarterfinal was almost similar to the first one. The final result is 82-64.

Ulker vs CSKA: 64-82

The only difference was Ulker mood. It did not seem like the team is motivated enough to keep the promise to return to Moscow for the 3rd game of the serie. CSKA made a single mistake in the 3rd quarter. Saulus Stombergas managed to score 6 points in two minutes and gave his team a good chance for a real fight to win the game – 51-61. But Ulker just did not had enough skills to use the opportunity.

There were three best scorers on CSKA side in the game. They are David Andersen, who helped CSKA to make a run in the second quarter, J.R. Holden who spent on the court all the game but 2 minutes because of Theodoros Papaloukas absence, and Marcus Brown. All the players scored 14 points. Dimos Dikoudis added 13 points and 7 rebounds.

CSKA would have to spend almost 3 weeks without a single Euroleague game. But the prize that expects the audience in Moscow is worth to wait. Final Four comes to Moscow in May.


CSKA head coach Dusan Ivkovic:

- First of all I want to congratulate my players that we are on our target. We already qualified and deserved that. We had a higher rhythm and controlled most of the game. We won all quarters except the third one. I also want to congratulate everybody, my staff, my assistants and everybody in the club for reaching that goal. We have enough time to get ready for the finals. I also want to congratulate Ulker that this season they made a great job by reaching the quarterfinals. Their coach Ergin Ataman and forward Serkan Erdogan also had an excellent season and I hope they to better in the next season.

Ulker head coach Ergin Ataman:

- First of all, I want to congratulate my players that we reached the quarterfinals of the Euroleague this season. This is the first time that two teams from Turkey reached the quarterfinals. CSKA Moscow is the dream team of the Euroleague. Tonight we felt the negative side of the affection of playing against a team, who are the hosts of the Final Four. I hope Efes Pilsen makes what we weren't able to do. I think they have a great chance against Panathinaikos.



Photos
David Andersen (photo M. Serbin)
Marcus Brown (photo M. Serbin)
Demos Dikoudis (photo M. Serbin)
Jon Robert Holden (photo M. Serbin)
Alexey Savrasenko (photo M. Serbin)
Martin Muursepp (photo M. Serbin)
Sergey Monya (photo M. Serbin)
Zakhar Pashutin (photo M. Serbin)
Antonio Granger (photo M. Serbin)
CSKA time out (photo M. Serbin)
Vasiliy Zavoruev and Marcus Brown (photo M. Serbin)
Dusan Ivkovic (photo M. Serbin)
CSKA fans (photo M. Serbin)
The team thanks the fans  (photo M. Serbin)