CSM Oradea vs. CSO Voluntari: The second semifinal in history between the two teams – Baschet.ro

Just like two years ago, CSM Oradea and CSO Voluntari will meet in the semifinals of the Men’s Basketball Nations League. This series is played according to the “best of five games” system, and the first two games are played in Oradea Arena.

Here is the schedule of the series between Bihoreni and Ilfoveni:

• Match 1 – Thursday, April 25, 19:00, FRB TV, Oradea Arena, Alin Faur, Şerban Rașoga, Cristian Trofim (commissioner – Lajos Kovago)
• Match 2 – Saturday, April 27, 5:45 p.m., Digi Sport 4, FRB TV, Oradea Arena, Alexandru Olaru, Alin Faur, Bogdan Podar (commissioner – Lajos Kovago)
• Match 3 – Wednesday, May 1, FRB TV, Sala Gabriela Szabo
• Match 4 (if necessary) – Friday, May 3, FRB TV, Sala Gabriela Szabo
• Match 5 (if needed) – Tuesday, May 7, FRB TV, Oradea Arena

In the quarterfinals, the two teams had two completely different series. CSM Oradea won 3-0 against CSM Constanța, while CSO Voluntari needed five games to overcome BC CSU Sibiu.

What’s more, the blue-white series started later than the other first-round playoff series, due to the fact that Ainars Bagatskis’ team participated in the Final 4 of the European North Basketball League, where they lost the final to the Bakken Bears .

So, during the period April 9-22 (14 days), CSO Voluntari had no less than seven matches, that is an average of one game every two days. It remains to be seen how the Ilfovenians will manage to recover physically for a series that promises to be extremely demanding.

The two opponents in the semi-finals have met twice this season and both duels were won by the red-blues, but each time the difference was less than ten points.

In the round, CSM Oradea won with 96 to 89, after overtime, in a match in which they had six players in double-digits: Erick Neal (17 points, meanwhile no longer part of Cristian Achim’s team), Toddrick Gotcher (17 points), Donatas Tarolis (14 points), Nijal Pearson (14 points), Kris Richard (13 points) and Bobe Nicolescu (10 points).

On the other side, the leaders were Rashard Odomes (22 points), Kwamain Mitchell (14 points), Keyshawn Feazell (13 points) and Laszlo Polyak (13 points).

In return, the Red Lions prevailed with 95 to 87, thanks to a decisive act won by eight points. The best players for the guests were Nijal Pearson (21 points), Donatas Tarolis (18 points), Kris Richard (15 points) and Jonathan Arledge (14 points).

Instead, Kodi Justice (18 points), Trevon Allen (15 points), Lucas Tohătan (13 points) and Keyshawn Feazell (12 points) stood out from the hosts.

In the series with CSU Sibiu, CSO Voluntari had big problems defending the pick-and-roll actions between Jay Threatt and Rareș Uță, the yellow-blue pivot having averages of 15.2 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.0 decisive assists, 1.0 caps and 20.0 to efficiency. Following this example, Oradea could bet more on Cătălin Baciu, who is having an excellent season, and use the same strategy in the duel with Alexandru Olah.

Also interesting will be the pairing of Lennard Freeman and Keyshawn Feazell, two massive and athletic centers. At the small man level, both camps have excellent players, with the main weapons being Kris Richard, Nijal Pearson, Kodi Justice and Trevon Allen.

It will be interesting to see how Toddrick Gotcher will perform against his former team and how Rashard Odomes will play, just recovered from a serious injury.

From a statistical point of view, CSO Voluntari is better than CSM Oradea in only two chapters: caps (2.3 – 3.2) and turnovers (12.7 – 11.0).

The first duel will take place on Thursday, April 25, at 19:00, in Oradea Arena.

*photo: Facebook – CSM Oradea