Caja Laboral defeated CSKA in the third quarterfinal match

Basketball Euroleague

Photo: Kommersant / Mikhail Serbin

CSKA failed to win the quarterfinal series of the play-offs of the Euroleague basketball, spending a minimum number of matches on it. In the third, after two confident home victories, the army team crushingly lost to the Spanish club Caja Laboral away - 72:93.

“We got kicked in the ass” - the definition that CSKA head coach Ettore Messina chose to describe what happened looked, of course, very succinct and fair. Indeed, they gave in. The slap would have sounded loudly in any case - it’s even hard to remember the last time army men were beaten so brutally. And it sounded especially loud against the backdrop of the two victories they won last week, in the Moscow part of the series, over Caja Laboral - so convincing that they suggested such a difference in class that no amount of home comfort could neutralize it.

But there was confusion. In search of at least some positive, Ettore Messina after this match had to stop at the final quarter, in which the army reservists performed well. It was hard to find any other pleasant moments in him. An approximately equal starting ten minutes was followed by a breakthrough by Caja Laboral, and by the big break its advantage had come close to the 20-point mark. And soon after it, it passed over her. By that very final quarter, in which Messina no longer had any reason to strain the base and in which the basketball players from the army bench did a good job, Caja Laboral led “plus 31”.

Strange plot. Although, perhaps, “strange” is not quite the right word in this situation. This plot made me remember, in addition to examples of CSKA misfires, the situation that looked before the quarterfinals was by no means absolutely cloudless for the favorite. “Caja Laboral” was not assigned the role of a punching bag, which he played in Moscow, but a quite strong sparring partner with a good deck of his own strong cards - a powerful group of snipers, a well-organized defense, a leader who knows how to take responsibility in the most important episodes Andres Nocioni.

And if in Russia none of these trump cards played, then in Spain absolutely everyone played. From behind the arc, the Caja Laboral snipers - Milko and Nemanja Bjelica, Thomas Urtel - fired with commendable accuracy, converting 15 shots out of 26. In defense, they grabbed everyone quite tightly when it was necessary to grab them so that CSKA felt uncomfortable - Milos Teodosic, Sonny Weems, Victor Khryapu. And Nochoni finally looked like the Nochoni who, not so long ago, while playing in the NBA, was considered not the last person in the strongest basketball league in the world.

And all this was superimposed on a far from best army game - with a weak percentage of hits from a distance, with unluckiness in the fight for rebounds. Hence the result, about which Ettore Messina said “a kick in the ass”, and Caja Laboral coach Jean Tabac - that, when assessing it, the numbers that are pleasing to the Spanish eye cannot be taken as the truth, as reality. As are the numbers that are pleasing to the Russian eye, summing up the Moscow meetings. What he meant is clear: both in Moscow and in Vitoria, too much worked for some and too much failed for others. Much more happened and didn’t work out than usual in a “standard” match. “But reality is somewhere in the middle,” said Jean Tabak.

The middle ground, as both statistics and feelings suggest, is still slightly shifted to the army side. And history suggests that kicks in the ass, if received on time, can be even more useful to grandees than open arms from an outsider - from the point of view of future readiness for the fact that the outsider may not be so toothless and that everything may suddenly start to go wrong for him. A learned lesson, no matter how cruel it may be, is generally a valuable thing.

The army guys got their kick on time. They still lead the series and still have the opportunity to not take the series to the fifth, deciding match. If today in the repeat Spanish match they play at their real level and do not allow them to play at an unrealistic opponent.

Alexey Dospehov

1/4 finals

Series up to three wins. Third matches

"Caja Laboral" (Spain) - CSKA (Russia) 93:72. The series score is 1:2.

"Anadolu Ephesus" (Türkiye) - "Olympiacos" (Greece) 83:72. The series score is 1:2.

The fourth matches will take place today at the sites of the teams listed first.

Army soldiers detained in Spain