An assembly of superstar players and the most successful coaches possible lifted the 2005 Final Four festivities in Moscow into high gear on Thursday with the official press conference prior to the semifinals at the International Music Hall in Moscow. Before they confront each other on the court at 13,300-seat Olympiysky Arena in the semifinals on Thursday, the major protagonists met face-to-face at the press conference.
Pini Gershon and forward Anthony Parker of Maccabi traded laughs with Zeljko Obradovic and Jaka Lakovic of Panathinaikos, while Dusko Ivkovic and forward David Andersen of CSKA sat beside Dusan Ivkovic and Luis Scola of Tau Ceramica. They all were joined by Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu, CSKA president Alexander Gomelsky, Mikhail Man, the deputy mayor of Moscow, and Igor Antonov, deputy chairman of the board of directors for Rosbank, a Final Four sponsor. "This will be the first Final Four ever to be held in this city, which may sound a litlle bit surprising if you consider the importance of Russian basketball and what the city of Moscow means in the history of European basketball," Bertomeu said. "The Euroleague is repaying this debt to the city of Moscow and it is proud to do so." All four teams take their first full-length practices on the floor at Olympiysky on Thursday night.
Dusan Ivkovic, head coach
"For sure, everybody at CSKA was ready to prepare mentally for things to be tough in this competition. For us, maybe it was going to be a problem to qualify, with the pressure we had. But now we are here and ready to do our best, to do the same things we've done until now. We and Tau know each other very well, because we began in the same group. I think we have big experience and we know what to do."
"Maccabi last year was under pressure and their team was dominant in the final game like never before. The situation for us is that from the beginning we prepared a team to be ready to play under pressure. Now that we are here in the Final Four, we are ready to do our best."
"My scouts work very hard, and I saw a lot of games of Tau. We know we each other very well, and we know the players in Tau Ceramica. The last two years in very tough games, we beat them four times. I think it means something."
David Andersen, center
"Being in three Final Fours is obviously a great achievement and I am proud to be here again in Moscow. To see this kind of attention from the press and everyone is surprising. Coming from Australia, where there is not much coverage of European basketball, this is special. I am just happy to be back here again."
"Growing up, I never expected be play basketball in Russia. And if someone had told me that someday I'd be playing a Final Four in Russia, I would have looked at them and laughed. But now, I consider it a real privilege to be here, among the best players and teams in Europe, and to try to make history in basketball. I am looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity."
"We are playing for CSKA Moscow, in a huge city with a lot of fans who want to see us do good. But pressure is something I can't think about too much. I can just go out and play. Hopefully we'll win and make everyone in this great capital happy. That's what we're working for."
Pini Gershon, head coach
"I don't know all the history before. I have coached Maccabi for five years and this is my fourth time at a Final Four. Maccabi Tel Aviv is a big club that always wants to reach the Final Four and be champion. Everyone knows our history in Israel, but I think also that in Europe, Maccabi Tel Aviv is one of the best teams at reaching the Final Four. It is always a challenge, but it's not enough to be here. We are not just happy be here. We want the title."
"I feel confident. I feel good. As Coach Obradovic has said, good coaches make good teams. If everyone says that the best teams are here, maybe the best coaches are here also."
"Statistically, we are the best offensive team in Europe. In the Top 16, we also had one of best defensive teams in the Euroleague, I believe. So, we can be better at both sides, but statistically, in the overall valuation, we are the best in Europe, and in most of the other statistical categories. But statistics don't help you when the ball goes up. It is not only coaches and players, but conditions surrounding the game. For example, even if you work hard all year, if you don't sleep the night before the game, you might not play good."
(about Zeljko Obradovic) "We are friends. There is going to be a winner and a loser. Those are the two options, get the win or not, but after we will still be friends."
Anthony Parker, guard
(On Maccabi's offensive strength). "We don't really think about it too much. We have a great system and a great group of players. The system is very fun to play in, very entertaining, I think that's what we take pride in."
"I don't go out there trying to prove I am worth being the MVP. I think the goal at end of the day is to have the best team, and then individual awards are sorted out afterwards. That's my focus and our team's focus."
"I think if a team goes into this weekend trying to change who they are, they are in trouble. Certainly, we're not going to repeat what happened last year. This is a great Panathinaikos team. They're talented, deep and playing their best basketball right now. With the great coach they have, it will be tough. They are very aggressive and physical, and certainly we are going to be prepared for that."
(Is offense or defense the key to victory?) "I think that it's defense. If you play good defense and offensively do what you are supposed to do, it makes it a little easier to win. If offensively you are doing what you have to, but the other team scores easy, the game is always going to be close. Offensively, if we play as we have all year, we'll be OK, but defensively we've got to step up and play aggressive defense, because it's the Final Four. We did it last year and I hope we can do it again this year."
Zeljko Obradovic, head coach
(Do you have a secret to your success?) "The secret is always the same. The players must play good."
"The motivation is always the same. I am here with my players and we played hard all season to be here. We are happy to play against the best team in Europe tomorrow. Maccabi is an excellent team and the champion, so by playing against them we get to see how we are. For us, it will be something very special to play tomorrow against Maccabi."
"I think all these teams are here to play and win. No one is here to be tourists. There is no doubt about that."
"Without question, Maccabi is an excellent team and have great quality to play how they play. I could talk about Anthony, Jasikevicius, Vujcic and also about Pini, because a team is what the coach want it to do. Pini gives them the opportunity to play how they want to play, and that's important. Basketball is not about defense only or offense only. Both things are very important. Tomorrow we will see what happens."
Jaka Lakovic, point guard
"It's great to be here, but my dream is not only to be in the Final Four. My dream is winning the cups, all kinds of cups. That's what I am here for."
"I think Maccabi is a complete team. They are great both inside and outside, they play a lot of pick-and-rolls well. They have many creators, outside and inside, too, with Vujcic. We have to be a complete team, playing defense all around. We have to be everywhere to get a chance to win the game. And we will do that."
"It's my first year at a Final Four. I will do it my way, like I do it every game. For sure, my way is being a little crazy before the game, but when the game starts, all goes away and I just play the game."
"The matchup between me and Saras, I didn't think about it. In our strategy, individual matchups do not exist. There is Panathinaikos playing against Maccabi. If I look at tomorrow as an individual matchup, for sure Panathinaikos loses. The only way to win is to play a team game and not think about individual records, matchups and those types of things."
Dusko Ivanovic, head coach
"The truth is that I don't want to remember the old days when I won as a player. It is very different arriving here as a coach, and the best thing to do at the moment is to live this experience. I don't want to think about the past, but about the present."
"I believe that the most important thing for tomorrow will be playing good defense, that's important for all four teams. Defense must be the basis to gain confidence. Of course, as in each big game, the inspiration of certain players can be decisive if the game is close in the final minutes."
"I think that we arrived here in good shape, but that doesn't mean anything. The most important things is how we will be on the floor tomorrow. The most important thing for my team, which is taking part in the Final Four for the first time, is to be calm enough to play it. I believe we will have it, and I hope it will be a close game. If we stay calm, we will have our chances."
"Both teams know each other very well, we played four times in two years and CSKA won all four games. I think that experience might be important for both teams and all players. Who will get advantage of it, who will be more intelligent? I believe in my team above anything else. We will see about it tomorrow."
Luis Scola, power forward
"Even if the gold medal was almost one year ago, for me and other guys who were in that team it seems like a long time ago. Since then, a lot of things happened and we don't think about that anymore. This weekend will have its own weight and we are now concentrated in the Final Four. Athens brings great memories but we have to forget all about the past now and concentrate 100 percent on the Final Four, the Euroleague and CSKA."
"This weekend means a lot to us. It's great for a player when you can start winning everything you work for, those goals and dreams mean a lot to us. I'm really wishing to take the Eurolegague because of the first final we lost against Kinder and then because we fell short of making it lately. I feel lucky and comfortable in this human group we have created, and taking the title here and now would be a unique accomplishment."
"Probably those games we lost to CSKA are a source of motivation for some players. Those were great basketball games, exciting for the fans and tough for the players, especially us, since we lost. If some players use revenge as motivation it's fine with me, the way to get motivated is totally irrelevant as long as it works. Everyone has his own way to motivate himself."
"Trying to pick a single player of CSKA and name him as decisive is impossible. They have so many talented players, and at my position, apart from David Andersen, CSKA has players like Demos Dikoudis, Martin Muursepp or Aleksey Savrasenko, players that have proved their quality during their careers. We could just name their players one by one with great quality and history. It's hard to sum up CSKA in one single player. It's impossible."
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