By Dionysis Aravantinos / info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow managed to qualify to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four for a record-breaking 20th time this season, after sweeping Fenerbahce 3-0 in the playoffs. Daniel Hackett played a huge role in CSKA‘s success during the playoffs, especially during the first two games.
The 33-year old EuroLeague veteran scored 20 points in Game 1 against Fenerbahce, and flirted with a double-double in Game 2, posting 14 points and nine assists. Despite this historic accomplishment for the “Army Team”, this season was tough. CSKA’s players suffered major injuries, some tested positive for the coronavirus, and EuroLeague’s MVP frontrunner, Mike James was indefinitely suspended – and eventually moved to Brooklyn, following an incident with coach Dimitris Itoudis.
Still, the team stayed together, finished in the second seed in the regular-season standings, and swept Fenerbahce to qualify to yet another Final Four. Daniel Hackett caught up with Eurohoops to talk about this season’s EuroLeague run, going up against Fenerbahce in the playoffs, facing Anadolu Efes in the semifinal, as well as coming up big in key moments.
You managed to qualify to yet another Final Four. How are you feeling right now?
Daniel Hackett: Anxious. I feel anxious and excited for the opportunity to play in my second Final Four. That’s about it. It’s time to prepare and see how things will go.
Talk a little bit about the series vs. Fenerbahce. Lots of guys stepped up, including Will Clyburn, Iffe Lundberg, yourself.
DH: The series was tough. Both teams had some problems. Fenerbahce was dealing with COVID, we were dealing with injuries. So, it was a pretty unpredictable series. The result was pretty clear. I thought we played some good defenses, and this gave us the chance to control all three of the games, for long stretches. Of course, we had to deal with two big-time players in Nando De Colo and Marko Guduric who gave us some issues. Overall, we were solid. Everyone contributed.
In the first two games against Fenerbahce, you had a major impact in the two wins, playing more minutes, and boosting your season average numbers. Where do you find that extra motivation of showing up in big games?
DH: It’s just instinct. I was very hungry to get some wins. I have to thank the medical staff who in a matter of 10-12 days allowed me to play. My shoulder was in pretty bad shape; I was questionable for this series. I have to give credit to them who put me on the court. And I also have to give credit to my teammates for the confidence they gave me out there. We have so many guys who do little things on our team. That’s very underrated, but it’s a key factor for us. Everybody can contribute and step up when it counts.
It was a strange season, to say the least with injuries, the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the Mike James situation. How would you assess the season so far?
DH: Challenging, strange. We have to take many things into consideration. First of all, the fact that we’re in a pandemic. Secondly, for long stretches of the season, most of us were here without our families. Our families couldn’t enter Russia for a long period of time. Third, the number of games we played; due to scheduling problems. We had to squeeze in a lot of games. It was a challenging year. At the end of the day, the teams that were most prepared and mentally tougher reached the Final Four. The top 4 teams from the regular-season standings also made it to the Final Four, so that also says something about which teams were most consistent throughout the year.
You’re going into the Final Four as the defending champions. Do you feel any pressure after sweeping Fenerbahce in the playoffs?
DH: To be honest, you can look at us and still say we’re the underdogs of the Final Four. Many people before the playoffs were saying that Fenerbahce was actually the better team, but we went there and did our job. And the things we went through during the season, with Nikola Milutinov’s season-ending injury, Joel Bolomboy’s injury, Toko Shengelia playing with broken fingers in Game 1 of the playoffs, and many other things, we can still say that we’re going into the Final Four as the underdogs. We have to go there and prove that we can win this trophy. If everybody does their job and works hard, I don’t think that we will feel pressure. I think the pressure goes away once you dive on the first ball.
You’ll face Anadolu Efes in the semifinal. In the regular season, you guys went 1-1 in what both were blowout games. How different will the semifinal game look like?
DH: I think the semifinal will be a totally different game. It will be in a different setup. It will be at a different time of the season. In our first game against Efes in the regular season, we ‘gave them a big punch,’ and in the second game, ‘they gave us a big punch.’ Whoever gets there mentally ready and healthy, and also has a little bit of luck, will have better results.
What are the differences you see between the Efes you faced two years ago in the EuroLeague Final and the Efes you’ll face in the semi-final?
DH: Not many differences to be honest. Two years ago, they were the surprise of the EuroLeague. The year before they had finished last in the standings. So, in 2019, they surprised everybody and had a huge run throughout the season. This year, they kind of started a little bit slower and picked up the pace all of a sudden in the second half of the season. It’s the same Efes team pretty much that we faced in 2019. They changed little things on their roster. They have big scoring potential, ability to stretch the floor, with two big-time playmakers in Vasilije Micic and Shane Larkin.
EuroLeague recently announced that the Final Four in Cologne will take place behind closed doors, with no fans present in the arena. How much could that affect the outcome of the games?
DH: That’s huge. I’m the type of player who loves to feel the fans’ excitement; I thrive, I take energy because of that. We were lucky enough in Russia to have some fans in the arenas this season, but this is the reality we face. We saw it in the NBA, we see it now in the EuroLeague. But this makes it even more interesting and unpredictable. The fans do play a factor in the outcomes of the games. Without them, it will be strange.
Fans, journalists, and players sometimes define success based on Final Four outcomes. So, what is on the line in this Final Four?
DH: It’s a season on the line. The long journey that we’ve been through, the ups and downs. As you say, success, win a trophy, be victorious… that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day. This is the job that we have to do here at CSKA because this is a club that wants to win trophies and be glorious. For myself, I don’t think I have to prove a lot. I just want to win. I’m very hungry to win. I wake up every day and want to win. If it’s practice… if it’s playing blackjack… whatever. I want to win. This is my mentality. At the end of the day, it’s about raising the trophy. Competing and giving your best.
Let me ask you this then. Would you say that this is a championship or bust season, or do you feel accomplished either way?
DH: First of all, you have to take into consideration everything. We had a lot of injuries, we had some other situations that I don’t like to talk about, we still finished tied for first place in the regular-season standings. I think we showed a lot of character. We showed unity, togetherness. I speak about everyone, players, staff, who was here before, who left the team. It was a long journey. So, it’s about going in there and fight. If we lose the trophy, we’re going to be back next year to try again. This is what it’s all about. I wouldn’t say it’s a bust. You have to look at everything that’s happened throughout the season, and then make your judgments.
Looking at the other semi-final between Barcelona and Milan, which team do you see advancing to the championship game?
DH: I would go with Milan.