Panathinaikos continues with its preparation in view of the game against CSKA Moscow (Thursday 10/11, 22:00). It is a game which Dimitris Itoudis characterizes as “the toughest test”of all those that the European champions have taken so far.
“The game against CSKA Moscow in our home arena, the day after tomorrow, is quite possibly the toughest test of them all so far for us, after our first game against Unicaja Màlaga. I am saying this because, prior to that game, we had not played any official games and we were dealing with a team that had a very good pace. I compare this to that game in the sense that it is going to be a tough test. Let us not kid ourselves: we are OK, we have a 3-0 run in Euroleague, which however is the result of two home-games and one game against the weakest team in the competition. Our players deserve congratulations on that; it is not an easy thing to do, and I am not saying it to put down the significance of the 3-0 run we have accomplished. I am saying it, because everyone knows that CSKA Moscow is a team whose ultimate goal and objective is to find itself to the Final Four where it aims at the title, and this is backed up by the quality it has as a team; the quality of the players it disposes of.”
Itoudis refers in detail to the Russian team roster, by speaking about its… height, as well as the addition of Andrei Kirilenko: “He is a very important addition to their roster. We are dealing with a team that has the size; it is a very tall team. When you have a team of five players where Kirilenko-Siskauskas are in positions 2 and 3, together with whoever between Khryapa and Vorontsevich is in position 4, along with Krstic, Kaun or Lavrinovic, you immediately have a height average that exceeds 2 meters; so we realize the first element is the rebounds. What we have told our players, is that the team that wins most of the rebounds, the team that has the will to claim most of the rebounds and most the loose balls, will be the one to have the first say in the game, precisely because it will have more possessions. Our main goal will be to claim more rebounds, to not allow them second chances, and to avoid turnovers.”
The multitude of quality players that CSKA Moscow disposes of, dominates the analysis: “It has many different ways to play offence. Their main creators are Teodosic and Shved. It “runs” many pick ‘n’ rolls. These two players combined have 11 assists in Euroleague, which is a big number that we need to reduce. Furthermore, most of the assists end up in 3-pointers. We must keep in mind that CSKA has the highest three-point shots percentage and the biggest number of three-point shots in the competition. Therefore, the 11 assists translate into almost 30 points. We must stop these two players’ creativity. Apart from that, they have many good shooters. They have Siskauskas; they have Kirilenko; they are going to give both of them opportunities to play in the low post too. They have Teodosic and Shved who, aside creating game-plays, they are also executing by shooting after pick’n’roll, having game-plays of their own. All their shooters are good. We must run and not allow open shots, because they are all good shooters on the outside. Even Kirilenko: it is not his strongpoint but has better percentages compared to other seasons. They have a very good combination, amongst these three players, Shved, Teodosic, and Kirilenko, particularly in some backdoor situations. This too is an important element, and so is the presence of Krstic in the five-against-five play. They will aim for the low post. With the exception of Kirilenko, who will get low post game-play opportunities when he plays as small forward, Krstic is the one who creates in the low post. He has game-plays of his own; he is an important player there. Everyone else has their role. Gordon, who comes in as second point guard and creator is also an important player in isolation; he is a player who has his own points whether in low post, or isolations. Or Lavrinovic, who can play both in position 4 and 5, being a threat on the outside too. In the analysis we have referred to all 14 players. They have a multitude of players and all 14 of them are very dangerous. They will also use a2-3 zone too, although their main defense is man-to-man. They have different configurations, precisely due to the height. It might be that Kirilenko will play in position 4, or maybe in position 3 too along with Siskauskas and this will give them extra height. I consider that their best configuration is with Teodosic and Shved, Siskauskas or Kirilenko in position 3, Vorontsevich and Krstic.”
The fans are expected to be a big plus for Panathinaikos once again. Dimitris Itoudis expects to see them flock into the OAKA again: “It is going to be a tough test. Our fans have already helped us in the previous two games. I consider it a given fact that they will be here with us again. They know that this is an important game. It might go so far as be the game that judges our course afterwards, because – let us not forget that! – CSKA has also defeated Zalgiris in Kaunas. In order for us to claim victory we will need to remain focused all 40 minutes of the game. And I am saying this because we had bad signs in the game against Ikaros, especially from a defense point of view, notwithstanding the outcome of the game. I do not want to undermine Ikaros’ potential, but as the coach said during the press conference they had many unsuccessful shots, which however had been properly created. We insisted a lot in analyzing that. The respective CSKA open shots will not be so unsuccessful. We are facing a team that shoots a lot and is successful in shooting behind the line. We need to pay extra attention to this. The game against Ikaros was good for us in that issue. In the practice sessions that we have during the preparation we need to work hard on this issue in order to be ready for this crucial and toughest of all tests so far.”
