Unicaja Malaga vs. CSKA: 70-76
Evgeny Pashutin, CSKA head coach:
“I’d like to congratulate our team and fans with the victory which gave us the first place in the Group. We know how difficult is it to play in Malaga against Unicaja, the big club with a great coach at head. We expected the game to be exactly like this, and we were prepared for physical contact from minute one, even knowing that it will cost us a lot of fouls. And that happened: Planinic was fouled out, some other guys were playing with 4 fouls. We started the game well-organized, we had good inside-outside balance. But Unicaja changed its style completely in the third quarter, putting 4 guards and one 4-5 guy on the court and switching to full-court press. We prepared for this kind of defense, but we were not ready. So we had to put small lineup on the floor to even the speed. I’d like to add some good words about our young players Ponkrashov and Vorontsevich. They stepped on the floor in the difficult moments and played key roles. I am glad for them and I hope to see them improve.”
