CSKA’s summer was special and interesting, but mostly predictable and well known with a small twist in the plot – Nikola Milotinov arrived as the “most surprising” (not really) signing of the Red Army team, joined by Turnika Shangalya during what in those days seemed strange from Toko’s direction. In fact, he made CSKA a team with players who are considered so absolute and dominant in the positions in which they play, that even before the first tip-off of the season, the Red Army team once again became a team whose season begins in May – the month in which the Final Four takes place.
The twist of course as in any good action movie again directed us to the silver lane and from there as mentioned the twist came to him, with the waiver of Howard Saint Ross and Ron Baker when in his place the latter only recently signed Gabriel Where Landberg. After opening a season of two wins to three losses, Itudis’ team set out on a hunting trip that ended with a streak of 12 wins, the most notable of which was a 35-point victory (65: 100) over Anadolu Zero.
The sequence did not include the victory over Yannis Sapropoulos’ trainees in the second round as well as the sequence of events that could have literally ended CSKA’s season, which won this elusive thing called looking to the future in the present, “what would happen if,” or the best way Describe what happened what CSKA would look like without Mike James or the day after.
On paper, CSKA’s staff should be deep enough and certainly talented enough to overcome the shortcomings of one player, one or the other, as talented as he may be and without a doubt, Mike James is one of the most talented guards in the Euroleague. Still wondering how Phoenix gave up on him when he sought to gamble on himself when he left Europe and the “fat” contracts in favor of the NBA dream. Dominate with a high hand in Europe’s senior competition.Of course there are other guards that belong to the elite and that every team would want them such as Vasily Misic, but the discussion about the three started because of the similarities between them.
Mike James’ season is no less dreamy both statistically and in terms of ability on the field, as well as the amount of games he has won in the clutch, only the sequence of events that has happened in recent weeks that led to the player’s suspension from the team, two games the Red Army team played without Mike C. ‘James since the end of his winning streak of 12, the first was against Alba Berlin which she narrowly won with 71 points on the offensive side, the second against Bayern Munich she lost when the whole fourth quarter made the difference, Itudis’ attack came to a complete stop with only six points .
James has been back in action since then, only along the way the blue and reds from Moscow managed to lose Will Claiborne and get him back, as well as Toko Shangalya, but it was Nikola Milotinov’s injury that led the team to make two quick moves with Landberg and Michael Eric. . And so it turns out that the second meeting between the teams this season will have similarities even if the situations are completely different. In the second round CSKA played without Nikola Milotinov, as will happen tonight, Yuval Sussman will also be absent as he was in the previous meeting, and the different? And more athletic.