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Here comes the Final Four!
 Here comes the Final Four! The excitement here is phenomenal, the preparation for the Final Four and all activities surrounding it is still at the highest level like it has always been. As you all know, this is my third trip to the Final Four, but it just as special as the first time and I am looking forward to it, just as the rest of the team is. We are all very excited and prepared, because we are going there on a mission. There is no sign of overconfidence in this CSKA team. Coach Messina really has insisted on this: We are going to Athens thinking that, first of all, we have to play a tough opponent in Unicaja. We know that the loss of Daniel Santiago and the fact that Tusek may not play may damage them, but they still have players that will step up for them. That makes them a little more dangerous, because Unicaja is a good team and the expectations of everybody are kind of worn away. There are a lot of people in the media that already picked us to go on to the final and that is what makes Unicaja a bit more dangerous.
Of course, Marcus Brown will be very motivated in this game. He has the opportunity to play against his old team, CSKA, the team he helped to make it to the Final Four twice. Definitely, this is a special game for him. Unicaja is a team with pride and with very good players. They know what championship basketball is all about, even if they don't have a lot of Final Four experience, I think, or at least not as much as our team. Like I said before, that's not the issue right now, as it all depends on who plays the best basketball in Athens. Our team does have a lot of Final Four experience. Aleksey Savrasenko is in his seventh Final Four, I believe. David Andersen and Matjaz Smodis made it to four Final Fours and won another title in a playoff series, then me and Thomas Van den Spiegel are in our third Final Four, while all the players who have played for this CSKA for a long time made it to five Final Fours in a row. That's a lot of Final Four experience and I hope this can help us in the long run. Any possible advantage that you can get counts right now to win the game. All we are looking forward to the game against Unicaja to go out and compete.
I played with Bootsy Thornton at my first Final Four, against him last season and this time he will not be there. Bootsy is always going to be with me whether if he plays against me or not. We were there together and missed our chance to win the title in 2004, we played against each other last season and unfortunately, he won't be there in uniform this time. I will talk to him before the games. Last year, right after the game, when I came down out of the stands, right after giving my jersey to my wife, Bootsy was the first person standing there, next to the floor, he congratulated me and gave me a hug immediately after the game. He won't be there this time, but we will definitely talk and it is always good to share this with him. I know that he wants us to win, and I will try to help my team in any way possible to hopefully make that happen.
Panathinaikos faces Tau Ceramica in the other semifinal, and that is going to be a tough game. The team that makes it to the final, hopefully will be a little worn down for the championship game. That game is going to be a tough battle, both teams have played incredible throughout the entire season. Panathinaikos will have a lot of home spirit and intensity because they will be playing in front of many of their fans and at their home gym. Tau is a great team put together to win the Euroleague championship, so I think this is going to be a very interesting game and I am sure the fans will definitely enjoy.
This is my first Final Four as a Euroleague champion, and the difference is the expectations going on. Last season, I don't think many people picked us to win this Final Four. I know I picked us, because, like I sad before, I had this small friendly bet with a friend of mine that I ended up winning. I made that bet really early in the Euroleague season. Anybody back then would have thought that I was crazy and fortunately for us, we turned out to be right. The difference is that we came into this season as the defending champions and bringing the whole team back with some additions creates a lot of expectations. We are not an underdog anymore, but one of the favorites, if not the only favorite. But we try not to play too much attention on that, like we didn't play any attention to the doubters last year. The only thing we can do is control ourselves and do what we know to do – Win basketball games.
This is my last blog for this season and I want to thank everyone in the Euroleague for giving me the opportunity to speak my mind through their website. I would like to thank Frank Lawlor and Javier Gancedo to stepping up and allowing me to do this blog. I also want to thank everybody in the CSKA organization, Sergei Kushchenko, Andrei Vatutin and Coach Messina for sticking with me throughout this tough season. Hopefully we can see it through and do exactly what we came here to do: Make sure that our mission is accomplished.
POSTED BY
David Vanterpool - Moscow, Russia
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