Translated material
Full house derby
The capital's army men are still stronger than their fellow Dynamo players
The central match of the first round of the men's super league fell exactly in the middle of the calendar. In the capital's derby CSKA - "Dynamo" the "red-blues" celebrated success on their site - 86:78. The Army team won despite the absence of injured playmaker John Robert Holden and regular team captain Matjaz Smodis, who had recently recovered from a leg injury.Formally, Smodis' current status is a declared player. At the same time, no more than six foreign basketball players can be on the roster of any club in Division A of the Super League. And some of our teams recruited foreign players in abundance. Another example is Khimki, where Finn Teemu Ranniko is currently outside the Russian Championship. But Dynamo has only six Varangians, unless you count, of course, the American Travis Hansen, who has Russian citizenship.
The match between the army team and the “blue and white” was highly anticipated by basketball experts. Dynamo's off-season acquisitions of star players with solid experience in the NBA (Slovenian Bastian Nachbar, American Jannero Pargo), and the invitation to the post of head coach of Russian national team coach David Blatt gave hope that the "blue and white" could make up a championship is serious competition for our long-time flagship CSKA. The absence of two key players from the “red-blues” further fueled the confidence that Dynamo had a real chance to win.
The regular season game drew a full house. Sold-out crowds at Moscow Super League matches are a rather rare event. The Italian coach of the home team, Ettore Messina, included Ramunas Siskauskas, Trajan Langdon, Zoran Planinic, Viktor Khryapa, and Alexey Savrasenko in the starting five. Blatt gave preference to Hansen, Pargo, Nachbar, Sergei Monet and Robertas Javtokas. The debut of the meeting was left to Dynamo. In the first attack, Pargo, who tried to attack from long range, earned the right to three free throws and converted them all. By the fourth minute, after sniper shots from behind the six-meter line by Pargo and Hansen, the guests' lead was 10 points - 18:8.
The Blue and White looked good in attack, trying to attack varied and quickly, but Blatt’s team still has certain problems in defense. The Red-Blues are still more reliable and organized in defense. Although Dynamo has huge potential, and it can be realized in the playoffs, when the team becomes better teamed. Blatt, with his work at Dynamo St. Petersburg and the Russian national team, proved that he knows how to bring his players to their peak at the right time.
The opponents went into the long break with the score tied, and the third period began with a spurt by CSKA - 13:4. The opponents willingly exchanged three-point shots, showing a good percentage of hits. The army team ignored Dynamo “joker” Hollis Price in the arc, and he scored twice at the end of the quarter with well-aimed long-range shots. Dynamo took the lead again - 64:63.
The last ten minutes passed under the sign of CSKA's obvious superiority. For this period, Dynamo went out without Pargo, but after two minutes Blatt again released the obvious leader of today's Dynamo onto the court. At some point, the attacking defenders of the “blue and white” got carried away with individual actions and stopped loading the balls onto the front line players. The visitors' long-range weapon stopped working, and the "red-blues" gradually went into the lead. Accurate shots by Khryapa and Zisis led to a 15-point advantage for Messina's players two minutes before the siren. This was the end of the intrigue of the meeting.
The best scorer of the meeting was Pargo (25 points), while the most productive for CSKA was Siskauskas, who managed five accurate shots from behind the arc. Among the army players, it is worth noting Khryapa’s powerful performance in the fight under the shields. He collected eight rebounds, the best individual figure of the match. “Our team played with heart and great desire,” Messina commented on the victory. — We had to correct Zisis’ actions. At first he played too aggressively in defense, but was somehow calm in attack. But Zisis played the second half of the match in a balanced manner. I’m especially pleased with the Russian basketball players – Khryapa and Savrasenko.” Blatt was brief in his assessment of the match: “We showed good basketball for three quarters, and in the last quarter it was the experience and higher skill of CSKA that affected.”
Results. Men. Super League. "Ural-Great" -- "Triumph" -- 78:77, UNICS -- "Spartak-Primorye" -- 77:70, "CSK VVS-Samara" -- "Spartak" St. Petersburg -- 66:91, CSKA - - "Dynamo" M -- 86:78.
Position of teams in the Super League
| 1. CSKA | 6 | 6 | 0 | 502:402 | 12 | 100.0 |
| 2. Khimki | 7 | 6 | 1 | 545:476 | 13 | 85.7 |
| 3. Dynamo M | 7 | 5 | 2 | 562:494 | 12 | 71.4 |
| 4. UNICS | 6 | 4 | 2 | 465:409 | 10 | 66.7 |
| 5. Spartak St. Petersburg | 6 | 4 | 2 | 475:437 | 10 | 66.7 |
| 6. Lokomotiv-Rostov | 7 | 3 | 4 | 502:520 | 10 | 42.9 |
| 7. "Triumph" | 6 | 2 | 4 | 490:457 | 8 | 33.3 |
| 8. "Ural Great" | 6 | 2 | 4 | 441:499 | 8 | 33.3 |
| 9. “CSK VVS-Samara” | 6 | 2 | 4 | 441:518 | 8 | 33.3 |
| 10. "Yenisei" | 6 | 2 | 4 | 410:493 | 8 | 33.3 |
| 11. "Spartak-Primorye" | 6 | 1 | 5 | 413:490 | 7 | 16.7 |
| 12. "University-Ugra" | 5 | 0 | 5 | 372:423 | 5 | 0.0 |