Too much heroics for one week

CSKA vs. ALBA Berlin: 88-93 (-5)

CSKA: Bolomboy (5 + 5 rb + 4 bs), Hilliard (8 + 2 as), Hackett (3 + 2 st + 4 pf), Shengelia (9 + 7 rb + 2 as + 3 to), Kurbanov (5 + 3 rb + 3 to) – start; Khomenko (DNP), James (27 + 3 rb + 6 as + 5 to), Ukhov (0), Voigtmann (2 + 4 rb), Clyburn (25 + 4 rb + 3 to + 4 pf), Umrikhin (DNP), Milutinov (4)…

ALBA: Siva (12 + 4 as + 2 st), Eriksson (13 + 3 st), Fontecchio (20 + 3 rb), Sikma (11 + 9 rb + 5 as + 3 to + 4 pf), Lammers (4 + 3 rb + 2 bs) – start; Lo (15 + 3 rb + 2 as), Giffey (9 + 3 rb + 4 pf), Mattisseck (DNP), Schneider (0), Olinde (2), Granger (7 + 5 as)…

Congratulations to ALBA for the win. Unfortunately it was a very bad night for us. Even though in the first half we shot the ball with the best percentages so far – 75% for threes and 64% for twos – I went into the locker room telling my players that was not the way to perform because they already had 8 offensive boards and we turned over the ball 8 times. Unfortunately I was proven right. In the second half, we started by shooting 0 of 9 for three and we turned over the ball 11 more times, and we gave them 14 more possessions than we had. I take all the blame for this performance but everybody needs to think seriously about how to communicate better and be more concentrated. We didn’t match their energy, we didn’t match their enthusiasm. We have not fought enough, and we paid the price.