Translated material
Two cities under siege
The army team turned out to be stronger than the French "Pau-Orthez"
CSKA basketball players interrupted the season's second series of two consecutive defeats in the ULEB Euroleague, defeating the Pau-Orthez team on their court, representing the sporting honor of the neighboring French cities reflected in the name - 97:74. The guests noticeably worsened their position in the fight for getting into the next group stage of the Top 16, and this success helped the “red-blues” gain confidence in their abilities. CSKA is in third place in octet “C”, behind the Greek “Panathinaikos” and “Unicaja” (Spain), but ahead of the most titled club in the Old World, “Real Madrid”.CSKA clearly indicated its superiority in the first quarter, which it won by 10 points. The opponents' ring was mainly hit by Andersen, Holden and Vanterpool. That is, the hosts attacked the Po-Orthez ring from a wide variety of positions - from behind the three-point arc, from mid-range and directly from under the shield. At the end of the second period, the team of Italian coach Ettore Messina made a breakthrough that finally knocked out the opponent - 10:0, increasing their lead to more than a comfortable 20 points. Moreover, the army men clearly did not overwork themselves, using their combat potential, perhaps, only 65-70 percent.
Yesterday marked the 78th anniversary of the birth of the great basketball mentor Alexander Yakovlevich Gomelsky, coach of the USSR national team - Olympic champion Seoul 1988. Gomelsky spent the best years of his career at CSKA, where he worked both as the “steering” of the team and as the president of the club. In memory of the legendary specialist, the army leadership established a special prize for the basketball player, who brought the army team the 78th point in the match with Po-Ortez. It went to John Robert Holden.
At the very end of the game, Vladimir Dyachok appeared for the first time in the “red-blue” lineup. In the offseason, he moved to the best team in the country from the modest Surgut University, already a candidate for the Russian national team. However, due to illness, Vladimir’s debut at CSKA was delayed from autumn until January. The boy was not taken aback and immediately after his appearance on the site fired a well-aimed shot. In the next, 12th round, CSKA will play on January 26 in the main city of Spain with Real.
On the eve of the hopes of getting into the playoffs of the FIBA European Cup, Dynamo (Moscow region) finally abandoned their hopes of getting into the playoffs of the FIBA European Cup, losing on their site to the German team Cologne, which ranks only sixth in the rather weak German championship in terms of the number of participants - 79:85 . In the last 11 official meetings, the “blue and white” suffered nine defeats. The team is clearly in a deep crisis, and it seems that the club’s management, including the famous pop singer Lev Leshchenko, who is the honorary president, does not yet see a clear way out of this unenviable situation. Dynamo are hopeless outsiders of Group J, which does not at all correspond to the impressive payroll of the team.
Big problems are expected with the continuation of the fight for the trophy for the current champion of the FIBA Euroleague (the former name of this tournament) and Dynamo from the banks of the Neva. The St. Petersburg team lost to the Ukrainian BC Kiev on the road - 61:63 and are in third place in Group I, and only the two strongest clubs from each quartet get a ticket to the 1/4 finals. Only Khimki, which won its third victory in the fourth round, represents Russia's honor in the European Cup. Sergei Elevich's team defeated Cypriot AEL (Limassol) on the road - 91:82. Basketball players from the Moscow region hold the first position in the “L” quartet.
The capital's Dynamo and Kazan UNICS are awaiting the Barcelona draw for the 1/8 finals of the ULEB Cup, scheduled for January 20. Both teams took first place in their groups. The Blue and Whites upset the German Skyliners at home in the last round of the group stage - 75:61, UNICS defeated the Turkish Besiktas in the capital of Tatarstan - 72:58. In the playoffs, Russian clubs will meet with teams that finished fourth in their top six - Ventspils (Latvia), Panionios (Greece), Belgian Charleroi (Muscovites only), Italian Virtus (Kazan only ).