Meet Finland

Though the VTB United League regular championship game with Honka will be the fourth in the history of both teams, it will take place in Finland for the first time. Transaero flight took army men to Helsinki today.

The travel to the new country was not regular for several reasons. First, Russian Vice Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov boarded the team’s plane and presented the flowers for the Women’s Day to the ladies onboard. Second, the regular schedule was changed: due to the hosts request short press conference with Jonas Kazlauskas and Trajan Langdon participating took place in Helsinki airport.

“My first meeting with Finnish basketball took place when I was a coach in Lithuanian Junior National Team”, - CSKA head coach Jonas Kazlauskas said. “After that we played in NEBL when I coach Zalgiris and Lietuvos Rytas. It will be tough and interesting game. Everything is new here for me. It is difficult to catch everything with lack of time. But we understand each other better and better inside the team everyday. I don’t know too much about Honka. I watched the video when I was on the plane, my assistants also told me some things. It is important for our confidence to win this one.”

“As far as I know they did not change there roster much”, - Trajan Langdon added. “They are not that big, they like to run, to press, to spread the floor to find some space for their shooters”.

Finally, the team had just another roster changes. Artem Zabelin joined his teammates after missing practice time and the game in Krasnodar because of knee pains. Ramunas Siskauskas stayed in Moscow to rehabilitate his injured Achilles tendon. Jamont Gordon received one-game disqualification for failing to obey head coach orders during the team’s practice. The decision on further disciplinary actions will be taken soon.