Staying home, preparing for the final!

CSKA – Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar: 103-92 (+11)

CSKA: Ware (16 + 4 as), Ruzhentsev (6 + 3 rb + 2 as + 2 st), Ukhov (8 + 3 rb), Astapkovich (6 + 4 as), Jean-Charles (14 + 8 rb + 5 as + 4 pf) – start; Cleveland (4 + 2 st), Trimble (29 + 3 rb + 4 as + 4 to), Karpenko (DNP), Chadov (DNP), Antonov (6), Kurbanov (12 + 3 st), Mitrovic (2 + 7 rb + 4 as + 3 st)…

Lokomotiv Kuban: Miller (20 + 6 as + 5 to), Moore (18 + 7 rb + 2 as + 4 pf), Temirov (10 + 4 pf), Ishchenko (11 + 7 rb + 2 st + 2 bs), Hadzibegovic (2 + 5 rb + 2 as) – start; Kosko (DNP), Martin (15 + 7 as + 3 to), Kvitkovskikh (11 + 6 rb + 2 as + 4 pf), Hunter (2 + 3 rb + 2 bs + 3 to), Sheyanov (0), Konovalov (3), Samoylenko (0)…

Andreas Pistiolis, CSKA head coach:

First of all, as always, I want to thank the fans who took the time to come to this game. This is very important to us; the support was truly fantastic. I hope that in the final, we'll have an audience worthy of a decisive stage.

As for the game, we started strong and quite smart, and immediately took control. At halftime, we were talking about how our opponents would give everything they had, but in reality, we came out very relaxed and needed to be smarter. You can't afford that in the semifinals and finals. At the same time, we have to give credit to Lokomotiv, who fought hard and didn't give up until the end. Both the coaches and the players took advantage of every opportunity we gave them. At the same time, our team's experience ultimately showed. We know how to win, and we know how to find ways to achieve victory, no matter how the game goes.

Ivan Ukhov, CSKA guard:

Today's game went well for us. We started well, were able to convert our shots, which we'd been lacking in previous games, and didn't let Lokomotiv-Kuban get going like they had before. And by doing that, we were able to impose our style of basketball.