Some nerves, but result is still the same

Without injured, irreplacable Holden CSKA had some problems only in the end of the game against Triumph because of tiredness, almost all the game feeling no resistance from visiting team.

CSKA vs. Triumph: 69-64


Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach:

"As we expected to play without J was very difficult. We had only one practice without him so we could not ajust our game. Now we have to work more on this because we have a long Russian trip ahead of us. I am glad thad Planinic played a good game except for the fourth quarter when he looked tired. For three quarters we played good both in defense and offense, but in the end we had some problems, probably because of tiredness.

We expected that Vorontsevich and Shved will help us but... At the same time I would like to mention Alexey Savrasenko who is getting closer to his best shape. He works a lot and it can be seen on the court. Savrasenko and Lorbek today did a very good job on Krstic".

Stanislav Eremin, Triumph head coach:

"CSKA, if it's hurt or ill, still stays CSKA. We did not put the right players on the court in the beginning and it did cost us a game. We could not sustain the starting strike, made a lot of mistakes, played helter-skelter game and lost the flow of the game. We found the right five on the court in the second half but we could not do much. We had some chances but we did not use them.

Askrabic had a heat today in the morning, and we missed him a lot. He is our key player and without him we did not play the team basketball. Krstic was also questionable because of the sprained finger. It is obvious that he avoids physical play. He will probably come through some medical tests. But this is not an excuse, because CSKA has the similar problems.

As for CSKA I expected that Langdon and Siskauskas will play the key role. And they did. Langdon scored very important shot in the end and he proved his top-class. Plus Planinic played good game especially in the first half when he was using his height advantage. CSKA is showing good team basketball - you can see the big work did by Messina, especially in defense. You need extra motivation to play against them: it is like you die or you win".