CSKA — Tsmoki, 07 March 2021

PRE-GAME BREAKDOWN

The Red-Blues returned from Istanbul immediately after the Euroleague game. The team had no days off: on Friday evening there was a long video session, and only a few players remained for shooting practice, and on Saturday afternoon there was a full-fledged practice session.

Again, the Army Team did not do without personnel changes. During the meeting with Efes, Janis Strelnieks was stabbed in the back, and on his return to Moscow he still had acute pains in the lumbar region. In the coming days, Janis will have additional examinations to exclude damage to internal organs. He is under the supervision of the medical staff. The Latvian guard was replaced by Iffe Lundberg on VTB League roster.

Compared to the game in the capital of Belarus, the opponents suffered serious losses. Maxim Salash, Artem Parakhovsky and Robert Lowry moved to other clubs.

WORD TO THE COACH

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

With all due respect to Minsk, we are focused now on our game. We don’t want to ever experience again what happened to us in Istanbul. We watched and analyzed the video, we stressed everyone’s attention on not being really aggressive and concentrated. Tsmoki have good mix of local and foreign players with good experience in European basketball, so we will take this game seriously as all other games.

“RELATIVITY” CONNECTIONS

Clyburn brothers, Will and Chris, are on the different sides in this game.

Vladimir Veremeenko was a teammate for two Army Men. He defended UNICS colors with Nikita Kurbanov in 2013-14 season and he played for Bamberg with Janis Strelieks in 2016-17 season.

Minsk newcomer Artsiom Parakhouski paired with Semen Antonov in Nizhny Novgorod, 2014-15 season.

PAST MATCHUPS

Wins/losses: 21-0

Game of 2020-21 VTB United League Regular Season:

06-Dec-2020. Tsmoki Minsk - CSKA: 60-87 (+27)

SHORT DOSSIER

Tsmoki Minsk, Belarus

Founded: 2006
Colors: blue, white
Home courts: Minsk-Arena (15,000), Falcon Club (2,300)
CEO: Yuri Shakola
Head coach: Rostislav Vergun
Website: www.bc-tsmoki.by
Trophy case: 12-time Belarusian champion (2009-20), 10-time Belarusian Cup winner (2010-19)