Thinking the unthinkable!
Here we are, ready to start the second half of the Top 16, and for those of us at Khimki Moscow Region, it's a very exciting time. We are working towards a new goal these days, the Euroleague playoffs, and we know that we have an opportunity to reach it as soon as Thursday when we play Caja Laboral again, just as we did two weeks ago. We have to approach this opportunity with full respect for our opponent. Of course, I think of them as Tau Ceramica, after playing them for so many years in Spain, but by any name, their club has been one of the best in Europe during this decade, making it to the Final Four an incredible four years in a row before they lost in the fifth game of the playoffs last season. If there is one thing that the Top 16 teaches, it's that no team can safely disrespect any other, not when those other teams have already done what it takes to make it to this stage. That was always true, of course, but anyone who doubted it before cannot do so any longer after what has happened in the first three games of this Top 16.
Just look at it this way: there is a possibility this week that both Panathinaikos and Caja Laboral will be eliminated after just four games of the Top 16. No one would have thought that was possible at the beginning of the round, let alone before the season started. It would have been unthinkable, in fact. But it's not unthinkable now. The truth is that there is great parity in the Euroleague and anything can happen at this stage. Just as those two teams have found themselves fighting to survive, however, any team that considers itself to be in good shape now can see their own situation change, too, if they are not careful. That is what I will be telling my teammates right up until tipoff and throughout Tuesday's game: 'Don't lose focus. This is the Top 16. Every second counts.'
The truth is we at Khimki already have our own lesson in how things can change in the course of a couple weeks in the Top 16. After winning the opener at home against Cibona, we faced two tough road games in a row: at Olympiacos and at Caja Laboral. The first could not have gone much worse, as we lost by 19 points in Piraeus and were never really in the game after a bad first quarter for us. The next week, we knew we had to win in Vitoria, which has been very difficult over the years for even the biggest teams. But in one week, we did what has to be done often to compete in the Top 16; we got mentally ready, turned around our disappointment and executed our plan. And not only did we win in Vitoria, but we did so by 11 points, which is a good margin.
Khimki is in this position now for two main reasons: we worked hard and believed in each other this season. The fact that this is the club's first year in the Euroleague has made it very interesting for us, and very motivating at the same time. We wanted to make Khimki an important name in this competition, and we are close to doing that. We have to keep working, and we are doing that, too. During the break, we've been preparing for this game and getting some mildly injured players back in shape so that when Thursday comes, we'll be 100-percent ready for whatever we have to face. For us, this is a final, and we have to play it that way. I can't wait until it starts!
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010