By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Following its road win on Wednesday, CSKA Moscow is up 2-1 in the best-of-five series against KIROLBET Baskonia. The Russian side is one victory away from the 2019 EuroLeague Final Four and is looking to achieve it on Friday at the Fernando Buesa Arena.
“In Game 2 we haven’t met our potential, so to play and win this big game on the road is important” Dimitris Itoudis mentioned and added: “Congratulations to the team for that. We had the right mindset, we brought our fighting spirit, we supported each other, and this is most important.”
On Game 4, the 48-year-old coach explained: “Game 4 will be even tougher. Baskonia plays at home, they have a huge motivation, they have the boost from their fans. But we are a good team, we have a quality to understand that we already did one mistake, we did not give a fight in Game 2, with all due respect to Baskonia. We need to stay on the same mindset, to come and fight.”
Representing the players, Andrey Vorontsevich mentioned: “It wasn’t an easy game on Wednesday, and the next one will be even tougher. We have to play our basketball, with the fire in our eyes and stay together.”
Injured Mikhail Kulagin will remain out. Youngsters Andrey Lopatin and Alexander Khomenko didn’t travel to Spain. However, the rest of the players are available.
If CSKA loses Game 4, the EuroLeague Playoffs series will be decided next week in Russia.