27.10.2004

CEZ Nymburk 84 vs. CSKA Sofia 81

On the 27th October 2004, the new season of the Fiba Europe league started for Nymburk. For this first match, the Bulgarian team CSKA Sofia were the opponents. The visiting team made a few changes to their team during the summer, as well Nymburk did themselves, so this match should prove who was the more successful.

		Maurice Whitfield

The match started at a high pace. Nymburk played more under the basket, where Jiri Zidek did a good job and scored 6 of Nymburk’s first 8 points.

Both teams played with an aggressive defense and tried to put pressure on the player with the ball.

In the sixth minute, the score was 17:16 for the home team with the score changing on both sides constantly but keeping the same gap.

After the first period, CSKA was 3 points ahead with the score at 20:23, mainly because of the quality of the pointguard Yordan Borzov, who scored 11 points.

In the second period the visitors were still a few points ahead and dominated with their defense.

Nymburk were able to rely on their pointguard Maurice Whitfield, as CSKA played Desmond Ferguson, their best player. The half time score was 34:38.

After the break the home team began with more pressure. It resulted in a few turnovers from CSKA.

In the fifth minute of this period, Nymburk took the lead after a threepointer from Adam Hess, making the score 55:47. During this time Nymburk was much better in defense and rebounding with their shots being much more successful. CSKA players lost their concentration, missing many free throws too.

		MVP of the game: Jiri Zidek

It resulted in the score being 64:55.

The fourth quarter corresponded with the third one, whereby Nymburk was always nine points ahead and CSKA was not able to catch them up.  In this period, Jiri Zidek showed his experience and played an important role in Nymburk’s defense and also scored important points.

3 minutes before the end, Nymburk was still 10 points ahead with the score at 80:70. CSKA threw all their power into attacking, however it was too late – the final score was 84:81.

MVP of the game: Jiri Zidek (CEZ Basketball Nymburk)

27.10.2004

Quotes CEZ Nymburk vs. CSKA Sofia

Rosen Barchovski (CSKA Sofia - head coach):
Congratulations to Nymburk. This game was tough and on a high level. We lost the match in the third period, where we lost our mind. Nymburk was better in rebounds and could score important points from the perimeter. We faild in free throws, I’ve never seen to miss 18 FT in one game.

Desmond Ferguson (CSKA Sofia):
As the coach said, we’ve lost this match in the third period. We missed a lot of shots and also lost a lot of balls. We have four new players and so the chemistry was not so good as well. Nymburk is a very good team and has good players.

Michal Jezdik (CEZ Basketball Nymburk – head coach): We knew, that CSKA is a very strong team with some Bulgarian national team players. We didn’t play well in the first half, we had too many turnovers, we didn’t play under the basket and shots from perimeter were not as good as we are used to. We won this match in the third period with better defense and rebounding.

Jiri Zidek (CEZ Basketball Nymburk):
The most important thing is, that we made the first win and we are very happy for it. CSKA is a very good team and this match wasn’t easy at all. We are very happy.