No easy life
Our team squandered a significant portion of its two-dozen-point lead in the first half, but still managed to prevail over Pari NN in its first home game of the season…
CSKA – Pari Nizhniy Novgorod: 86-77 (+9)
CSKA: Ware (10 + 3 rb + 3 as + 3 to), Ruzhentsev (9 + 3 rb), Ukhov (11 + 5 rb + 4 as), Astapkovich (4 + 6 rb + 2 as), Jean-Charles (12 + 6 rb + 3 st + 2 bs) – start; Cleveland (12 + 6 as + 3 st + 4 pf), Jekiri (6 + 5 rb + 4 pf), Gankevich (DNP), Karpenko (3 + 2 as), Chadov (8 + 3 rb), Antonov (5), Kurbanov (6 + 3 rb)…
Pari NN: Khomenko (19 + 6 rb + 4 as + 2 st + 3 to), Karpenkov (11 + 4 rb + 4 as + 4 to), Platonov (8), Khvostov (11 + 3 rb + 2 as + 4 pf), Popov (9 + 7 rb + 2 as + 2 bs + 4 pf) – start; Gatling (5 + 3 as), Lukacs (5 + 3 rb), Burinskiy (0), Grishayev (DNP), Dean (7 + 4 rb), Shenderov (2), Zotkin (2 as)…
Denis Godlevskiy, CSKA assistant coach:
We played two completely different halves: while we controlled the game in the first and secured a comfortable lead, in the second we didn't play as expected. We knew the Nizhny Novgorod team would play a different style of basketball; they wouldn't give up 40 points; they would play tougher and more aggressively. That's exactly what they demonstrated, but we weren't ready for it. It's still early in the season, so we generally have time to prepare. We're in the midst of working with the team.
