CSKA Moscow Game is like the Ultimate Challenge for an Olimpia team coming off a fast start, winner of four of the first five EuroLeague games. Riding a three-game winning streak in spite of playing without Nemanja Nedovic for the last two outings, Olimpia is facing now the highest obstacle to overcome. CSKA is one of the only two unbeaten teams in the competition, has yet to lose a game this season, and is featuring a team with a long and successful history that made the Final Four 15 times since the EuroLeague was formed 17 years ago. “Talking about them means talking about the best. They are a pick and roll team but a dominant one, they can execute it with five players, their bigs are roller more than low post player and they can do so many different things because of the quality of players like Rodridguez, De Colo and Higgins. Then defensively they are one of the best teams: their bigs, Hines and Hunter can defend the pick and roll in multiple ways. The difficulty level is sky-high”, Coach Simone Pianigiani said.

Olimpia will try its best, “because, in spite of some injuries and fatigue, we are a confident team right now and our defensive effort has been good so far. We will have to play with courage, because we earned the right to live a special night in a special atmosphere against the best team. CSKA will be the measuring stick that we can use to better understand what we need to do in order to gradually shrink the distance between their level and our level. Right now, the gap is clear but over the course of the season we want to get closer and closer”.