CSKA is powerless against really powerful opponents. Zenit proved it once again

CSKA went to St. Petersburg for the match against Zenit in the VTB United League regular season. The Army Men have had a great start to 2022. We defeated the houses of Avtodor (92:65), which allowed us to rise to the first place in the United League. In the Euroleague, Panathinaikos (98:74) and ASVEL (90:83) were defeated.

Here are just the games with Avtodor, Panathinaikos and ASVEL are not indicative. Avtodor was simply afraid of being in first place and was not mentally ready to resist the team of Dimitris Itoudis. Panathinaikos is completely helpless this season even in their home arena OAKA. The Greeks play especially badly against teams that excel them in individual skills.

ASVEL is a bit of a Euroleague midfielder, but in recent months the French have played a little better than the same outsider Panathinaikos. Nevertheless, even ASVEL was able to impose decent resistance on CSKA. The intrigue persisted until the last minutes, although in past seasons the army team in Moscow resolved all issues with such opponents in the third quarter, if not before the break. outbreaks of coronavirus in the Spaniards. This meeting really could show the state of Itoudis’s team now. I had to wait until January 17, when the army team arrived in St. Petersburg. As it turned out, all concerns about the quality of CSKA’s game were justified.

Zenit also faced the coronavirus. Javier Pascual’s team spent two weeks without match practice. Due to an ankle injury, center Arturas Gudaitis was out for several weeks, which is why the American newcomer Tyson Carter had to be urgently included in the VTB United League bid. The good news is that point guard Shabazz Napier has finally started training, who should soon return to the site after three and a half missed months.

Zenit, for all its problems, remains a top- 8 Euroleagues. It is with such opponents that CSKA often loses this season. The meeting in St. Petersburg once again proved this. The first quarter was held in a relatively equal fight – 21:21. In the second ten-minute period, the blue-white-blues began to break away – 42:35 by the break.

In the third quarter, the situation for CSKA became catastrophic. “Zenith” designed a double-digit lead and calmly kept it. There was no intrigue in the second half. Finished with a score of 81:68 in favor of “Zenith”.

Jordan Loyd (17 points) and Billy Baron (20 points) tore apart the extremely vague defense of the army. CSKA somehow stood out except that Nikola Milutinov (16 points, 8 rebounds), who took advantage of the absence of Gudaitis on the floor. The MVP of the last two rounds of the Euroleague Daniel Hackett completely disappeared on the site – 0 points in 17 minutes with the worst rating in the team -17. The Italian was lost against a team with an effective defensive system. Marius Grigonis, who has been impressive lately, has also lost noticeably, scoring 7 of his 9 points only with free throws. Aleksey Shved (10 points) shot often, but mostly inaccurately – 3 out of 11 games. Gabriel Lundberg used to be more or less effective in United League matches, but not in St. Petersburg – 6 points. CSKA has huge problems in the back line.

The heads of CSKA social networks made a mistake before the game, announcing the Russian Euroleague derby. For the army team, it’s even better that this meeting was not on the European arena. Still, in the VTB United League, the Itoudis team has the right to make a mistake and the loss of points is not particularly critical. Now it is important to correct the mistakes as soon as possible for the real Euroleague match on Friday with Milan, who will come to Moscow obviously not to serve the number.

The victory over Panathinaikos with such a devastating score, so rare for the current CSKA, created the illusion that everything was getting better. It even started to look like team play was getting better in the absence of the injured Will Clyburn. This is not true. The army team needs Clyburn very much. Like a classic point guard. Luca Wildos is now available on the market. This is not a superstar option, but it is important for CSKA to have at least a slightly useful first number. Otherwise, if there are victories, then they will be over opponents noticeably inferior in talent.

Zenit (8-3) had an excellent first match after the forced quarantine and overtook CSKA in the standings. Teams share 3rd-4th places. UNICS (9-2) and Avtodor (8-2) became the main beneficiaries following the meeting in St. Petersburg. Further, Zenit needs to roll into the rhythm of the Euroleague in order to defend positions in the playoff zone. There is reason to believe that Pascual’s team will cope with this task. The return of Napier can significantly increase the potential of the blue-white-blues in the second part of the season.