Euroleague Preview; Watch Free Livestream: CSKA Moscow v Budivelnik Kiev
Something's got to give as week 1 losers CSKA Moscow and Budivelnik Kiev meet on Friday in Moscow for week 2 of the Euroleague.
CSKA coach Ettore Messina has learned his lesson the hard way that no team should be taken lightly in the League.
"Our first Euroleague game against Nanterre showed perfectly that you should not expect anything to be taken easy in this Euroleague season. Budivelnik is a good and well-prepared team and they also gave hard time to Fenerbahce-Ulker last week," Messina told euroleague.net.
"Our adaptation period after the trip to America is over and I hope that we will be able to demonstrate the same quality of basketball as we did in the last quarters of two recent games. We need to do it for 40 minutes."
CSKA veteran Nenad Krstic echoes his coach's observation as he has also witnessed how Budivelnik performed in their previous game.
"Budivelnik had a tough fight against Fenerbahce in the Game 1 and proved that they are a dangerous team. They have strong frontline and Darius [Lavrinovic] is playing extremely well," said Kristic.
"He allows his team to play unorthodox, fast basketball by moving to 5-spot, he can spread the defense by his outside shooting. On the other side, we are definitely playing much better now than a week ago. We will prepare carefully because we are taking our opponent very serious."
Meanwhile, Budivelnik coach Ainars Bagatskis is determined that his team has more than a fighting chance to better CSKA as they have gained confidence despite their loss against Fenerbahce in gameweek 1.
"We will play with a very strong team, one of the best in Europe. They have a very smart and experienced coach, and an outstanding roster," said Bagatskis.
"At the same time, it doesn't mean that we going to be only the tourists in Moscow. We played quite good most of the time against Fenerbahce, but lost concentration and have defeat as a result. I hope tomorrow we will play much better, we want to beat CSKA so much. For sure, tomorrow we will put all our energy on the court!"
Budivelnik forward Micah Downs realised the importance of moving on from their recent loses to be able to bounce back and come out strong on Friday.
"We lost the two previous games, but we don't have time to worried about past. We work hard and expect to have great game against CSKA, and of course we will do everything possible for this win!" Downs said.
Schedule and Free Live Online Streaming (Link/s will be provided an hour before tip-off):
Oct 26, 2013 - 2 am (AEST)
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