In an interesting Istanbul derby, Anadolu Efes square off against Darussafaka Dogus on Thursday with the former still searching for their first win of the new EuroLeague season.
It has been a torrid start, results wise for Anadolu Efes. Losing in a heartbreaker to Baskonia, followed by being routed on the road to Olympiacos, then losing a close one to CSKA Moscow, they are desperate to register a victory on home court against their neighbours Darussafaka Dogus, who under David Blatt are currently 2-1.
“This will be a tough game like every game in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague,” says Anadolu Efes coach Velimir Perasovic. “We lost the first three games, also we have a very bad schedule. We need to react against a great team, Darussafaka Doguş which plays very good.”
History is on Anadolu Efes’ side though. Their previous two meetings has seen them come out on top on both occasions.
∞∞∞ CSKA-UNICS BATTLE IN ALL-RUSSIAN AFFAIR ∞∞∞
CSKA Moscow will look to build on their 3-0 start against fellow Russian side Unics Kazan, who are currently 0-3 as they travel to their nation’s capital.
It will be the first time that the two sides have met in the EuroLeague. Unics coach Evgeny Pashutin led CSKA to the Final Four in 2010 so he knows the team well. But so does his opposite number Dimitris Itoudis.
“Unics is a team that competed in all games played in the EuroLeague so far and looked good despite the negative results,” he says. “They were up by 14 and dictated their rhythm against Barcelona before losing the game in the very end, they could win in Bamberg and lost on small details, the same can be said about the game against Darussafaka.
“They are missing two important players because of injuries, [Anton] Ponkrashov and [Coty] Clark, but they play with courage and clear ideas. Coach Pashutin is doing a good job and the team deserves a lot of respect. We have enough knowledge about their game, we even met Unics recently during the Gomelsky Cup.”
∞∞∞ ELSEWHERE ∞∞∞
Both EA7 Milano and Real Madrid lost their unbeaten runs on Tuesday and the two sides will have the chance to redeem themselves when they meet at the Mediolanum Forum on Thursday.
“We want to beat a great great team but those kind of wins don’t come with anxiety and nervousness,” says EA7 Milano coach Jasmin Repesa. “They are the most talented team in Europe, they use solutions off screens away from the ball especially with Jaycee Carroll. So we’ll have to pay attention and don’t let them find any rhythm.”
With an opening day defeat to Real Madrid still fresh, Olympiacos will look to claim a victory in Spain at the second attempt when they face a tough Baskonia side in Vitoria.
Baskonia defeated Real Madrid in the Spanish capital on Tuesday, while Olympaicos ended the unbeaten run of EA7 Milano leaving both sides with 2-1 records coming in.
“We know that Olympiacos is a very good team, physical, that has been playing very well in the last few weeks,” said Baskonia coach Sito Alonso. “We need the support of our fans in order to beat them. We need to be very focused in every action of the game. We may have problems during the game because they play very hard. We are sure that in our home court, in front of our fans, we will be able to compete very well against them.”
