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Hi Mom! This blog's for you!
First of all, it's good to be in first place. We have been working hard the whole season to be in a position to have the opportunity to succeed and get to the Final Four. We have been able to do that, battling injuries, going through different type of things like expectations or pressure. We didn't feel like we had pressure, but it was there, since we are the defending champions and we want to be in the same situation to defend our title. Right now we are going into the next round as the group champions, we've got the home court advantage in the best-of-three playoff series and we feel we are in the best situation possible to try to get to the Final Four. This is one of the goals that we set to ourselves.
Honestly, until the media and the people started to talk about our 16-game winning streak, we didn't even know or pay attention of that. We just try to win games and reach the goals we had in the beginning of the season. We always wanted to go to the Final Four: this is what our focus has been, so we never thought about keeping this streak alive. We just try to go out there, play the best we can and try to win, and we have been fortunate to do that. It is kind of funny, you see some of these winning streaks in the NBA right now, with teams like the Dallas Mavericks or the Phoenix Suns. The funny part is that everyone is talking about how many games they can win in a row, while the thing people talk about here is whether they will win the championship or not, or if we will get to the Final Four. Streaks are cool, it is fun to keep track, but if we don't advance to the next round, it doesn't mean anything.
A lot of people ask me about my blog: friends all around Europe, players from other teams, people asking me when it is the next time that I will be blogging... As a matter of fact, I didn't even know that some of those guys saw Euroleague.net. Actually, even my mother ended up on Euroleague.net, saw my blog and didn't know about it, so she got mad at me. "You didn't tell me you were going to be on the Internet and that you'd be doing a blog?" she said. I had to apologize. I am surprised that so many people keep up with this kind of stuff. It is something that Euroleague.net should keep for a long time, because you get the player's view, an insider's look at the competition, what is going on and how people feel. A blog is a lot more in-depth than an interview.
 I know what is the big question right now: when am I going to be back? I have to take everything step by step and day by day. The most important thing right now is making sure on when I can come back. If it depended on me, I would have been back yesterday, or last month, or two months ago. I would have never gone out. But you have to take care of your health and listen to your body sometimes. In my situation, my body is telling me that there is pain, that there is a problem with my back and I need to take care of it, so this is what I am trying to do right now. I will be back whenever I am able, and I hope that will be as soon as possible.
Matty (Matjaz Smodis) was the Euroleague February MVP and we were all excited for him. I think it was well deserved. In my opinion, he is the best forward in Europe and one of the best forwards in the world. Matty can do a little bit of everything, inside, outside. He is a great teammate and is stepping up into a leadership role on our team. He deserves all the credit that he is receiving right now. And he received a very, very wonderful present for the CSKA organization- a PlayStation 3. I was very envious of that because I like PlayStation a lot, this one is hard to find and Matty got one.
I met Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu the other day in Barcelona and I want to thank him for remembering when myself and Bootsy Thornton came to visit the Euroleague office. I wish that more players could go there and visit. It is something I would like to recommend to every Euroleague player out there. Go there, take a look at the Euroleague and check out the headquarters of the league you are playing in. You will get a feeling of what's going on and you will meet the people that write about you and talk about you. I think it is important.
POSTED BY
David Vanterpool - Moscow
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