Some simple recipes

We’ve had too many ups-and-downs in the Euroleague so far this season. There were some really encouraging wins, like versus Unicaja at home, Lottomatica in Rome and, of course, that triumph in the clash with Olympiacos in Madrid. Then again, we only won once on the road and had a very rough game against Charleroi – probably, our worst showing of the season.

One could say that flashes of potential are definitely there for Real Madrid. Still, two primary areas of inconsistency for us are defense and shooting the ball. I mean, the team has been good at most offensive aspects except shooting percentage. We’ve had plenty of good looks, but for some reason just weren’t able to consistently connect on them.

Actually, creating open shots is what separates a good offense. You do your best to give shooters space and time and then count on them to put the ball into the basket. That’s why, by the way, Trajan Langdon has been so important to CSKA’s success. Guys like JR Holden, Papaloukas or Siskauskas made defenses collapse with their dribbling penetrations, giving him good looks from the perimeter and Trajan always did a good job knocking those shots down. The system worked against virtually any type of defense.

Anyways, we’ve been working hard on our shooting lately, both on technical aspects and mental ones. I hope it shows in the future, allowing us to increase percentages even in high-pressure type of games.

Overall, we have to stay strong at home, and in those away games just be able to sustain the pressure and be mentally ready to run away with it in the fourth quarter. That’s the recipe for making the play-offs.

It’ll be interesting to see young players react and deal with that kind of challenges. For most of them –guys like Sergio Rodriguez and Carlos Suarez – it’ll be a brand-new experience, even though Sergio saw some really scarce Euroleague action several years ago with Estudiantes. It’ll be yet another big challenge for Nikola Mirotic, who’s getting more and more minutes. Last season he was a second division player in Spain and here he is just eight months later – playing in the Euroleague.

So that’s what we want to do – get off to a good start and then maintain the momentum throughout the tournament while keeping in mind that in Top 16 point difference can play a role as vital as wins and losses. That basically makes every possession extremely important.

Our group in Top 16 this season is very similar to the group we had last year. Montepaschi Siena today fields two well-known players who were with Real Madrid last year – Marko Jaric and Rimas Kaukenas. I believe a certain sense of a good-natured rivalry could stem from this fact. I’m sure the guys will put in some extra effort to try and prove that we were wrong in not giving them enough minutes last year. It’ll be an additional motivation for them. On the other hand, Nikos Zisis is also on their roster and it’ll be great to meet him. We won many games together at CSKA, including that triumphant Euroleague campaign in 2008, which for sure still counts among fondest memories for everyone involved.

Efes is a team loaded with talent. In particular, they have a very smart player in Nikola Vujcic. He’s one of the guys I call «big point guards». When he receives the ball in the low post, he always seems to know how to find an open teammate in scoring position. And they have a lot of scorers – Rakocevic, Tunceri, others. Generally, the Istanbul squad looks quite menacing and will present a strong competition, without doubts.

Partizan, as a team, is very familiar to CSKA fans after having played so many games against the army club over the last several seasons. They have a habit of winning with new blood and this season the Serbs could be even more dangerous than in 2009-10. This year Sasha Danilovic did not have Dule Vujosevic alongside but still he picked up some very good players. Maybe they are not so experienced as they were last year but they are certainly deeper and maybe even more dangerous because of that.

Domestically, at the moment we’re tied with Barcelona at the top position in the ACB League, even though we lost to them in Catalonia. Hopefully, such disposition remains until the next time we play them in Madrid.

The biggest goal right now, though, is to make sure we’re successful in the Copa del Rey. It’s a fantastic Final Eight-type tournament that will be held in February in Madrid. Our club gets to play Gran Canaria in the quarterfinals, and, naturally, we have the ambition to go all the way in the competition.