FIBA Basketball
RUS - CSKA prepare for mighty Maccabi in Euroleague Final
PRAGUE (Euroleague) – "The lion is there, waiting to eat us." That was the stark assessment of CSKA Moscow coach Ettore Messina on Saturday ahead of his team’s Euroleague final showdown against two-time defending champions Maccabi Tel Aviv.The experienced Messina has been here before
PRAGUE (Euroleague) – "The lion is there, waiting to eat us."
That was the stark assessment of CSKA Moscow coach Ettore Messina on Saturday ahead of his team’s Euroleague final showdown against two-time defending champions Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The experienced Messina has been here before.
He won the title in 1998 and 2001 with Virtus Bologna, while in 2003, Messina’s Benetton Treviso finished runner-up to Barcelona.
Maccabi, who led Tau Ceramica by as many as 32 points – they were in total command at 71-39 in the third quarter – won that Euroleague semi-final 85-70 on Friday.
They are big favourites going into the game against a CSKA side that has scraped its way into the final for the first time in 33 years.
Messina lost star power forward David Andersen to injury earlier in the campaign but has kept the team together.
"We have been struggling and surviving all year long and we will try to prepare in the best possible way for the game," Messina said.
On Friday, it looked as if the wouldn’t make it.
CSKA trailed Winterthur Barcelona by 13 points early in the second half but fought back for an 84-75 triumph, although the game was much closer than the final score indicated.
"We know that no one will be betting on us (against Maccabi)," Messina said. "Every game is different, though."
Maccabi are an offensive juggernaut, according to CSKA’s Matjaz Smodis.
"It’s a very interesting matchup because Maccabi is a little more offensive-minded while we focus more on defense," he said. "We’ll see what happens."
Don’t tell that to Tau, who were suffocated for the second straight year by Maccabi’s defense.
Nearly every shot they took in the first half was contested.
Luis Scola, Tau’s all-world Argentinian forward, finished with 17 points but he laboured throughout. Tiago Splitter will attest to the physical nature of Maccabi’s defense as he tore a shoulder ligament in the second quarter and played no further part in the game.
Tau’s Pablo Prigioni had been one of the Euroleague’s top point guards this season but he was completely taken out of his game by Maccabi’s hawking defense.
Yes, Pini Gershon does have numerous options on offense, like Anthony Parker who had 19 points in the first half against Tau and the vastly underrated center Nikola Vujcic, but superlative defense carried Maccabi past Tau last season in the final, and this season in the Final Four.
There are plenty of reasons for CSKA Moscow to be optimistic, with JR Holden and Theo Papaloukas the most important.
Papaloukas is a Greek international who always comes off the bench. He excelled at the Olympics, at the EuroBasket – which his country won last summer – and on Friday by scoring 19 points.
Eight of those came in a key 13-0 run, during which CSKA pulled level with Barca at 50-50.
Holden made his first five three-pointers and also ended up with 19 points.
Rest assured, Maccabi will blanket Holden and not allow him to take any uncontested shots.
Papaloukas will also face a supreme test against Maccabi’s defense.
Maccabi are favourites, but Gershon, who led the club to the 2001 SuproLeague title and the last two Euroleague crowns, remains wary.
"I know that it will be a 40-minute game and it’s going to be tough," said Gershon, who has never faced Messina in a Euroleague final but has yet to beat him.
Messina, while the coach of Virtus Bologna, won two games against Gershon’s Maccabi in the 1998-99 season.
"It’s not easy to defend the championship, but I expect my players to handle the pressure which is on us this time."
From Jeff Taylor, PA Sport, Prague Exclusively for FIBA
That was the stark assessment of CSKA Moscow coach Ettore Messina on Saturday ahead of his team’s Euroleague final showdown against two-time defending champions Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The experienced Messina has been here before.
He won the title in 1998 and 2001 with Virtus Bologna, while in 2003, Messina’s Benetton Treviso finished runner-up to Barcelona.
Maccabi, who led Tau Ceramica by as many as 32 points – they were in total command at 71-39 in the third quarter – won that Euroleague semi-final 85-70 on Friday.
They are big favourites going into the game against a CSKA side that has scraped its way into the final for the first time in 33 years.
Messina lost star power forward David Andersen to injury earlier in the campaign but has kept the team together.
"We have been struggling and surviving all year long and we will try to prepare in the best possible way for the game," Messina said.
On Friday, it looked as if the wouldn’t make it.
CSKA trailed Winterthur Barcelona by 13 points early in the second half but fought back for an 84-75 triumph, although the game was much closer than the final score indicated.
"We know that no one will be betting on us (against Maccabi)," Messina said. "Every game is different, though."
Maccabi are an offensive juggernaut, according to CSKA’s Matjaz Smodis.
"It’s a very interesting matchup because Maccabi is a little more offensive-minded while we focus more on defense," he said. "We’ll see what happens."
Don’t tell that to Tau, who were suffocated for the second straight year by Maccabi’s defense.
Nearly every shot they took in the first half was contested.
Luis Scola, Tau’s all-world Argentinian forward, finished with 17 points but he laboured throughout. Tiago Splitter will attest to the physical nature of Maccabi’s defense as he tore a shoulder ligament in the second quarter and played no further part in the game.
Tau’s Pablo Prigioni had been one of the Euroleague’s top point guards this season but he was completely taken out of his game by Maccabi’s hawking defense.
Yes, Pini Gershon does have numerous options on offense, like Anthony Parker who had 19 points in the first half against Tau and the vastly underrated center Nikola Vujcic, but superlative defense carried Maccabi past Tau last season in the final, and this season in the Final Four.
There are plenty of reasons for CSKA Moscow to be optimistic, with JR Holden and Theo Papaloukas the most important.
Papaloukas is a Greek international who always comes off the bench. He excelled at the Olympics, at the EuroBasket – which his country won last summer – and on Friday by scoring 19 points.
Eight of those came in a key 13-0 run, during which CSKA pulled level with Barca at 50-50.
Holden made his first five three-pointers and also ended up with 19 points.
Rest assured, Maccabi will blanket Holden and not allow him to take any uncontested shots.
Papaloukas will also face a supreme test against Maccabi’s defense.
Maccabi are favourites, but Gershon, who led the club to the 2001 SuproLeague title and the last two Euroleague crowns, remains wary.
"I know that it will be a 40-minute game and it’s going to be tough," said Gershon, who has never faced Messina in a Euroleague final but has yet to beat him.
Messina, while the coach of Virtus Bologna, won two games against Gershon’s Maccabi in the 1998-99 season.
"It’s not easy to defend the championship, but I expect my players to handle the pressure which is on us this time."
From Jeff Taylor, PA Sport, Prague Exclusively for FIBA