The press conferences for both coaches turned out to be rather short. Ulker head coach Tolga Ongoren was suffering from the loss, and Dusan Ivkovic and Victor Alexander wanted to get home to celebrate the victory.
Tolga Ongoren, Head Coach, Ulker:
I’d like to congratulate CSKA on the victory. It’s obvious that since the beginning of the season they have moved on to a different level. We had lots of trouble getting back on defense tonight and gave up a lot of transition baskets. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to finish in the top three in our group. But I think we needed this game to learn from. We’ll make the proper adjustments for our upcoming game with Olympiacos.
- Was it important for Ulker to be in first place in its Euroleague group?
At the beginning of the season, we had a goal of finishing in the top three. But the situation has changed since then: the team had a great start to the season, and that means the expectations have been raised, and the Euroleague draw system has been changed as well. Now we have to finish as
high as possible in our sub-group. Looking at tonight’s game, CSKA is the team that has really earned first place in group C.
Dusan Ivkovic, Head Coach, CSKA:
We beat a good team tonight. It was a very important game. It’s not the most important thing to be in first place. The most important thing is to play well game-to-game. And we played really, really well tonight. Our pressure defense was great as we had 15 steals. Our halfcourt offense was also good. After the 3-week break, the players are getting back to their rhythm. Of course, soon we’ll have another break for the New Year. And, of course, after that it will take the players a little time to get back into shape. But we are in a good position right now and we hope to get better.
Furthermore, we learned today that Lithuanian forward Darius Songaila will return to Moscow soon-on December 18. That is great news for our team. We’ve missed this player.
Victor Alexander, CSKA center:
I’m excited that we won. I thought we played well and with lots of heart. We accomplished our goal, which was to win tonight’s game. The team is doing well, and that’s the important thing. Anytime you have a crowd behind a team like we had tonight, that’s going to help a lot.
VTB Teams:
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