CSKA vs. Olimpija Ljubljana: 79-69
Evgeny Pashutin, CSKA head coach:
In the first quarter we were very focused, showed those kind of basketball, which I would like to see throughout all 40 minutes, not only 10. Only our leaders - Langdon, Siskauskas, Khryapa - play stable and look good so far. Young players, unfortunately, are not stable enough yet. After "+15" in the first period, one should try to develop bigger advantage, not to let the opponents to get closer as we did. Only Kurbanov and Ponkrashov who did not play in the first half helped veterans due to their freshness and aggression. We are developing but, unfortunately, not as fast as we would like. We show good quality of basketball during some fragments. Khryapa made a lot of turnovers again, but that's because he is a sharp player. Victor feels bad about that, we've been talking a lot, we are trying to reduce the number of long passes in team schemes. I still trust Victor, I consider him a leader of the team. Do not forget that he suffered injury in the summer, and still getting back into shape.
Jure Zdovc, Olimpija head coach:
“CSKA deserved to win this game. They played better, harder, smarter than us. And we started the game being very soft. We tried to concentrate in the paint but got the three-pointers immediately. In fact they finished the game in the first quarter. Than we played better and better, but not smart enough. We made too many mistakes and CSKA punished us for every.”
