We are not the supermen

You cannot name this loss a rout. In the first game of Euroleague American Tour our team lost to Orlando with a big difference, having no answer to Magic superstar Dwight Howard, NBA slam dunk champion.

Orlando Magic vs. CSKA: 94-66

Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach:

- We might joke and say that we’ve been a little bit better than the Bobcats, but this is probably not the night. We had a very tough meeting, especially from the first quarter with their physical intensity. They are much better athletes, I would say, in all five positions on the court. And this made it difficult, not only to defend them, but to score on them. It required, I think, more than 24 minutes to at least understand where and how we could get a little advantage on offense and where and how we had to close gaps on defense.

The good thing was that the team continued to play. This is not something to underevaluate, because in Europe this is a winning team.

Overall I thought it was a good experience for us. I hope it was not a waste of time for the Magic, and we’d like to get better for the next game in Toronto.

The rules, honestly I thought that tonight could’ve been more of a factor in this game. (Dwight) Howard just to give you an example looked like Godzilla at one time. He’s huge. And just for you to have an idea, we are very big team in Europe. Physically we are very big usually. Usually we overwhelm opponents because we are much taller, we have more weight, we have more quickness. Here we look like Bambi. Siskauskus he’s a first level European player. And Turkoglu is very different from when he was in Turkey. His chest is like a television set. In every position you find somebody that is bigger, faster or even bigger and faster. And honestly it was a problem. A big, big problem.

Stan Van Gundy, Orlando Magic head coach:

- I mean the obvious difference in that game is Dwight Howard. I don’t think they have too many guys like him in the Euroleague. I mean that sincerely, I thought if you take him out of the mix then it’s a lot different game. I mean they didn’t have any chance to stop him. You know I thought he was outstanding, he came with good attitude. Again I think our games came with a real good approach. I think we played very, very hard early. I think we are a little out of gas right now, the ball quit moving and we were standing around. We are very tired.