Once in four months
Our team's 23-game winning streak, which had lasted since mid-November, was snapped in an away game against UNICS. Nevertheless, the season rivalry with Kazan ended with a plus for CSKA, which will come in handy if the teams are tied in the standings at the end...
UNICS Kazan – CSKA: 86-80 (-6)
UNICS: Belenitskiy (5 rb + 5 pf), Bingham (9 + 8 rb + 2 as + 2 st + 2 bs + 4 to + 4 pf), Kulagin (11 + 8 rb + 9 as + 4 pf), Pierre (13 + 3 rb + 2 as + 6 to), Lopatin (4 rb) – start; Khalilulayev (DNP), Brewer (23 + 5 rb + 3 st), Lee (11 + 6 as), Zakharov (DNP), Abdulbasirov (19 + 10 rb + 3 as + 2 bs), Belousov (DNP), Stulenkov (DNP)…
CSKA: Trimble (10 + 2 as + 3 st + 4 pf), Ukhov (22 + 6 rb + 3 st), Antonov (6), Jean-Charles (18 + 9 rb + 3 as + 2 st), Kurbanov (3 + 3 rb + 4 as) – start; Cleveland (2 + 4 rb), Ware (11 + 7 as + 2 st), Ruzhentsev (3), Astapkovich (3), Karpenko (DNP), Chadov (DNP), Mitrovic (2)…
Andreas Pistiolis, CSKA head coach:
Let me start by thanking our fans for coming to support us today, and also by giving credit to the UNICS fans – they created a great atmosphere for such an important game. And congratulations to the Kazan team on their victory.
This isn't the first time our opponents have gone into a game without several players, and for some reason, it's negatively impacting us and our basketball. The first half was one of the team's most disappointing performances since I took over. We didn't earn a single free throw – as far as I can remember, that's never happened before. This clearly indicates of how much aggression and focus we lacked. The only free throw in the first half came after a technical foul – meaning we didn't force our opponents into fouls at all.
We need to move on. We lost to a strong team, but we must improve and learn from this loss for the rest of the season and the playoffs.
I found out right before the game that my opponents would be missing players. And, as I already said, a similar situation happened in the game against UNICS a year ago. We lack something in games like this. It turns out the best way to beat CSKA is to play against us with a shortened lineup.
А провальные отрезки во всех четырёх играх сезона случались и у УНИКСа, баскетбол - это вообще в значительной степени игра рывков. Что болельщик УНИКСа по такой логике должен сейчас написать? Настораживает, что команда едва не упустила + 17 в 4 четверти, и т.д.? Так что я бы не волновался, к плей-офф команда будет должным образом готова, при Пистиолисе уже два сезона это доказывали.
Армейцы наверняка финишируют на первом месте регулярки, но провалы в матчах с Униксом настораживают (не только сегодня, но и в Москве).