By Kostas Ioakeimidis/ info@eurohoops.net
For the first time in nine years, CSKA Moscow marches to the Final Four not simply as a title contender but as the defending EuroLeague champion. Something that according to Kyle Hines, relieves some of the pressure from the back of him and his teammates and transforms it into a positive energy for the upcoming tournament.
“There’s always pressure. Especially when you are coming in as the champion,” Hines told Eurohoops. “The defending champion. We’ve won that pressure. Everyone here is experienced enough to understand that. We’ve dealt with pressure and situations like this one. As a group and as a unit during the past two-three years we’ve been in a number of high pressure situations and we’ve been able to overcome them. So can use this pressure us for all the previous seasons and games. It can help and benefit us in this Final Four tournament.”
“Winning the EuroLeague last year kind of eliminated what you might call as the negative pressure,” he added. “Media were talking about how we couldn’t win the big title. We proved them wrong last year. I guess no there’s a different… “curse”, as they say. That CSKA can’t beat Olympiacos in a Final Four. We can use the positive effects of last year’s pressure to propel us into a victory this year.”
The American player made the key decisive steps on his way to becoming one of the most acclaimed EuroLeague centers as a member of Olympiacos back in 2011-2013. He won back-to-back EuroLeague titles with the Reds and established himself as one of the most unique… “big guys” in the competition. Without the height but with tons of physical force and passion to make up for it.
“Obviously there’s a lot of history with Olympiacos and me. Because of me being there for two seasons and winning there. There are guys that I consider friends. Many people that I listen to are still in the organization. It means only special things. But when I’m on the court they are opponents. Especially on the way of me and the rest of our team accomplishing our goal. When we get on the court all relationships are put aside. The one goal for me and the team is win the title. Defending our title.”
CSKA Moscow counts three consecutive defeats by Olympiacos in Final Four tournaments: The 2012 Final, also in Istanbul, the 2013 semifinal of London and the 2015 semifinal of the Madrid Final Four. Hines was part of the Russian squad in the two latter tournaments and has seen both sides of the coin.
“It’s something that we are aware of. Because there are many of guys here that were part of those teams. But I think that we’re all confident enough and understand that every year and every game is different. We are confident in our abilities and where we are as a team. We know it’s not going to be an easy task. It’s going to be a difficult task because they are good as a team. But as I said we are confident and positive enough on what we need to do in to be victorious.”
Hines has been playing under the guidance of Dimitris Itoudis since 2014, when the Greek coach assumed the helm of Moscow. And he regards their cooperation as playing a major part in his ever-growing development.
“I definitely became a better player with coach Itoudis. Generally in my career, I’ve been lucky to be around some great coaches in my career. Chris Fleming in Brose Bamberg, Dusan Ivkovic in Olympiacos, and then Ettore Messina in CSKA Moscow. Now Itoudis. I’ve been very fortunate, blessed to have great coaches. Coach Itoudis has definitely helped me to gete the best out of my abilities. Helped me to understand where I can help the team the most. He’s helped me on the mentality, defensively. How to make different coverages. So yes, he’s definitely helped me a lot. On and off the court too. He has a great winning attitude and pedigree.”