CSKA vs. UNICS Kazan: 71-55
Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach:
“It is always difficult to play against Kazan. We managed to start the game very good, but in the second half we looked tired. But in the fourth quarter we showed good defense and our main players scored some important baskets. I cannot explain what’s going on with Holden and Langdon but we will try to do everything possible to help them to overcome this difficulties. If you remember, it is always tough for us to play after Euroleague Final Fours. You spend to much energy this days, especially mental energy.”
Aco Petrovic, UNICS head coach:
“We had very long break after the series against Triumph, so we did not find our game yet. We controlled the game in the first half of the first quarter, but after that we started to make mistakes. CSKA played very good defense, every time the player pressed the ball, they made some easy steals. And the deciding margin was in fact created after 10 minutes. I tried to use all the rotation, but everyone made mistakes. We shot badly from all distances. Tomorrow we will try to play better, because today we did not show our level. Kirksay got injured in a friendly game against Khimki, and he began practicing only two days ago. I decided to left him as a sixth foreigner, and I am not sure if he helped us today – the team is in a good shape right now. Our best players did not help us – Lyday got into foul trouble early and Loncar played poor in his 18 minutes.”
