By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
The second EuroLeague Final Four semifinal (17/5, 21:00 CET) features two squads which know each other very well, CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid.
The two teams will clash for the third straight year at the Final Four. In 2017, CSKA won the third-place game while Real prevailed in the 2018 semifinals and went on to become the champions. In fact, 20 players from last year’s semifinal game have stayed with their squads. CSKA kept nine players while Real Madrid has the same roster with the exception of Luka Doncic.
Two powerhouses with experienced winners
CSKA advanced to its 16th Final Four in 17 years missing only the 2011 one and leads the all-time list with 18 appearances. They are also looking to grab their 8th EuroLeague trophy. However, they’ve still got a way to go until they catch up to Real which has 10 EuroLeague trophies in their showcase and leads the all-time list of Championship game appearances with 18 compared to the Russians’ 13.
Those numbers are all fine but they won’t make the difference in this game as both squads feature deep rosters filled with experienced winners. For CSKA, most notable would be the three times EuroLeague champion Kyle Hines and Andrey Vorontsevich who enters his 9th Final Four (all with CSKA). For Real, Felipe Reyes and Rudy Fernandez basically define the ‘experienced winner’ epithet as they’ve won World Championship, EuroBasket, EuroLeague and EuroCup – the only players to do so along with Dejan Tomasevic.
Head-to-head and stats
The two teams have clashed ten times with Pablo Laso and Dimitris Itoudis as the head coaches and the latter won seven times. Real may have got past the Russians last year but CSKA has won both games this season and are ‘locked in’ to pay the Spaniards back for the last year’s semifinal loss. Corry Higgins and Nando De Colo on one side, and Facundo Campazzo and Anthony Randolph on the other side had strong performances in the regular season clashes. Real has also had a big advantage in the paint with Walter Tavares going against Kyle Hines and Othello Hunter.
The biggest problem for Real this season has been the start of the game. They have won most of the first quarters but their total margin is only +9, the worst among the Final Four teams. However, the Spaniards have managed to bounce back most of the time already by halftime with strong second quarters (+94 margin). And once they recover, they show no signs of slowing down going all the way to a strong finish but CSKA has also been a dominant team in the final period and it all suggests this matchup will go down to the wire.
Injuries
The squads’ primary playmakers had injury problems but both CSKA’s Sergio Rodriguez and Real’s Sergio Llull confirmed they are 100% ready for the semifinal. Rodriguez might be the player with the biggest motivation as he will play against his former team once again and might want to make up for the last year’s five-point semifinal game. Llull banked 16 points in that match. In case the two points guards can’t bring up the A game, CSKA Daniel Hackett and Real’s Facundo Campazzo have proved more than capable to step up for the occasion.