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The final point-difference will depend on the home team's approach only

The motivation at CSKA was brilliant for the past few weeks, proving once against proved that ever since Itoudis joined, the Moscow-based team don't change the approach when opponents' quality changes. Minsk are much better since Griscuk joined, they won the game in Astana last Sunday to travel 2500 kilometers and change three time zones since

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Despite probably being the best European team at the moment, having reached Euroleague Top 16 undefeated, CSKA weren't top table ahead of their meeting with Nizhny Novgorod last Sunday. Their opponents didn't have a single slip in the first 10 rounds, while CSKA lost in Krasnodar early in the season to create the point difference in the table. But, the win over Novgorod got CSKA in the top spot, while their dominant performance sent a message to other contenders in the Russian league.

Novgorod were a good enough opponents only for about 10 minutes (13-13) and CSKA went on to win all the other quarters by at least 7 points to only again confirm their great motivation when meeting powerful, good-quality opponents. Not even when the point difference went up to 20 or so earl in the final quarter did CSKA let go. They were completely focused, doing their best till the end in defense to limit Novgorod to only 59 point (24 in the second half).

- Congratulations to the team, we deserved to win. We found solutions in defense and offense in the second time and they forced us into smaller number of turnovers. Novgorod continued their good performances from past seasons, many teams struggled when meeting them away - Itoudis said. Almost everyone at his team scored, while De Colo finished with team-best 13 points.

It was the 20th consecutive win for the Moscow-based team that seems unstoppable at the moment. When we know that CSKA started the season without Hrjapa and didn't have Teodosic to count on in the previous weeks, that achievement gets even more impressive. The winning should be extended to game 21 today, with the final point-difference depending on CSKA only. We need to point out that CSKA did very good home games against lesser-quality opponents this season. Itoudis' team won all their home games by a double-digit point-difference - Unicaja by 10, Enisej by 13, and no other team by less than 18 points. 

- We feel a great deal of respect for each and every opponent. Minsk proved they are very dangerous after the new coach took over, they won a few VTB League and Eurochallenge games and improved their performances. Burrell joined Minks recently - it's a player I know from he Turkish championship. We want to win home to end this year successfully and I want to thank the fans for the support them were giving us in Novgorod - Itoudis said. He still won't be able to count on Teodosic, Hrjapa and Zozulin.

Minsk have had a pretty turbulent start to the season, but as time goes by, the team are getting better to prove their quality. The team from Belarus' capital recorded their first wins as coach Griscuk took over, went on to beat Enisej twice and then faced Astana on Sunday, the team that lost only one home game this season and managed to beat Lokomotiv home. Minsk beat them even tough Astana had Caner-Medley and Johnson at their disposal for the first time this season.

Minsk lost a lot of close games at the start of the season but their last two wins were games with thriller finishes. When Astana went on a 8-0 run to take an 84-83 lead, it seemed like Minsk would lose yet another game they controlled for the most part. The team got nervous, the referees made a few questionable decisions and Minsk seemed to be headed to another defeat caused by lack of experience. However, Mirkovic took responsibility in the final seconds to get two free throws and score both. Judging by the happiness the players displayed after the buzzer went off, it was a very important win for Minsk. We need to point that 6 of their players scored at least 10 points and that only Maras spent more than 27 minutes on the floor (37).

- I'm very happy we returned home with two points. We are getting better by the game. Playing good defense was the most important thing - Griscuk said.

Minsk are still bottom table with only two wins, but their recent games prove they are much better than early in the season. They are to face the 5 top Russian team over the next few weeks, which makes the win in Astana that much more important. 

The team will be put to the greatest of tests today and we need to wait and see how that will go since the game in Kazakhstan took place only 2 days ago. All the travelling Minsk had to do to get from Astana to Moscow (2500 kilometers) is extra problem. This is Minsk's third game in only 6 days and physical fitness might play the key role in this game.