Road to Athens: CSKA Moscow
|
 If there is a team rewriting history in recent years, that has to be defending champion CSKA Moscow, which has now made it to a record-breaking fifth consecutive Final Four. In the offseason, following its first continental title in 35 years, CSKA managed to keep Final Four MVP Theo Papaloukas and the core of players - J.R. Holden, David Andersen, Matjaz Smodis, Trajan Langdon - that had led the team to the Euroleague trophy in Prague. It later improved its roster with the arrival of Anton Ponkrashov and Oscar Torres, who joined the team once David Vanterpool had to sit out with a back injury before the start of the Top 16. CSKA has been unstoppable throughout the season, shutting down its opponents with its outstanding defense. Its first loss came early, however, as Pau-Orthez downed CSKA 73-67 in early November. CSKA just rolled since that moment, winning its 11 remaining regular season games and finishing the Top 16 unbeaten, too. David Andersen had 21 points in a 76-57 regular season win against Winterthur FC Barcelona, then CSKA took revenge with a 78-58 home win against Pau-Orthez. CSKA got even better in the Top 16, holding Partizan to 44 points in Game 2, the second-lowest mark ever in this phase. CSKA left no doubt about its power by thrashing Olympiacos 64-85 in Greece. Matjaz Smodis, who had earned Euroleague Febraury MVP honors, led 5 CSKA players in double digits with 19 points. CSKA beat Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 80-58 in Game 1 of the Quarterfinal Playoffs with 16 points from Trajan Langdon. Maccabi beat CSKA 68-56 to end the visitors' Euroleague record-tying 18 game winning streak. The two teams met again for Game 3 and CSKA did not disappoint its fans. CSKA used a record-breaking offensive perfomance - 59 points on 22 of 29 shots in the first half - to win Game 3 and advance to the Final Four. It comes as no surprise that CSKA is still the team to beat in this year's Euroleague.
|
|
Euroleague.net
|
 Print Send to a Friend Share
|