By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With CSKA Moscow going to the Final Four, the coach of the team, Dimitris Itoudis, spoke after Game 3 against Crvena Zvezda for the next big target of the team.
As he said: “I do have big respect for this game, for all the opponents. The respect is there when we prepare. We know that nothing is going to be given to us, it’s not going to be a walk in the park. Congratulations to Crvena Zvezda for this effort. They played great basketball all over the season. But at the same time I have to congratulate all the players. Despite the fact that we played with a lot of missing, important players, such as Freeland, Khryapa and Korobkov, today is the players’ victory. They showed character in front of amazing crowd and a pressure that is good for basketball. I have to congratulate all the players for their dedication, for being focused and going back-to-back to the Final Four. That’s not an easy thing. It might be easy for you and me to say it. But it’s not an easy thing. Congratulations to our management. All the coaching staff did a great job to go to that Final Four. And there’s a long way to go still”.
American guard Aaron Jackson who is getting ready for his third Final Four added: “You have to give all the credit to the team and coaching staff. We had a great game plan, and really fought. Zvezda had a hack of the season and they have great supporters, but we really wanted to show all of Euroleague we are not just a scoring team, we are just not a team you can push over. We fight back, too. It’s not really a key that we swept the series because there is enough time until the Final Four, but we wanted to make every game a final, and we wanted to win every game. That was more important. I think that some us, the players that have been here for a while, we played against Baskonia and against Panathinaikos before in the playoffs, and we lost Game 3 and had to play Game 4, which was a tough one. This time we wanted to make sure we take advantage of this”.