By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Both Milos Teodosic and coach Dimitris Itoudis were content after the first win of CSKA Moscow against Crvena Zvezda, however they know that the series is far from over.
As Itoudis said: “Congratulations to the team for taking a 1-0 series lead. We prepared the game knowing it will be a tough series and a tough game. Zvezda has athleticism and physicality. More or less, we were controlling the game. We had some good moments defensively and some bad. But overall, shooting over 70% for twos, and missing open shots at home, which is not often. These 7-for-20 three-pointers were uncontested shots. We are going to see the film and see other opportunities to score. They had 15 offensive boards, and that definitely bothers us. But we will work on it. Thanks to the fans who came to support us in this difficult series. Doctors will tell me if we will see Korobkov play in this series. We will see how he feels, we go day by day.”
The Greek coach expects from Zvezda to fight back: “Not everything was according to the game plan, but this is something that happens a lot of times. The fact that in the second half we put into the equation some more players, offensively and defensively, like Nando, like Kyle, like Nikita, like Fridzon – who in the third quarter was amazing how he helped us defensively and offensively – that was the key. We’re going to watch the film. We’ve got one day to see what went wrong, what we did good. I already said before the series that it will be tough. All the playoffs are tough. Everything has to be solved on the court. We solved it on the court tonight, congratulations, be we are just 1-0.” Itoudis also spoke about the fans of the team: “We are happy for those who came, but we hope to see more of them in our next game”.
The coach of the losing team, Dejan Radonjic added: “Congratulations to CSKA on the victory. We started well, but CSKA rallied quickly. Teodosic gave CSKA confidence and the advantage. They built a margin, but we did not give in, and in those moments managed to stay in the game. The same happened in the second half. We continued to stay close and they managed to assume control and take a 1-0 series lead. We will try to play Game 2 good, as well. Tonight we had chances to get even closer. Late in the game, we had a turnover by Micic, we did not manage to get a defensive rebound soon after, but there were also other moments where we could have reacted better, and gotten closer.”
As for Teodosic, despite his stellar offensive game, he spoke about defense: “I would say that this is CSKA in playoff mode. We played a very good game tonight. We need to rest tomorrow and to play one more good game and try to go 2-0 to Belgrade. We need to keep playing good defense and this is the way that we can win the second game, also.”