The pressure of expectation on Andrei Kirilenko after his return to Russia with CSKA Moscow is worse than during his time in the NBA with the Utah Jazz, he told RIA Novosti on Sunday.
CSKA has won the last nine Russian titles and reached the Euroleague Final Four nine times in the last decade, ranking the Moscow team among the best teams outside the NBA.
“It’s hard to play under pressure like this, when every bad game, even if the result is fine, is a bad game, like a litmus test that makes everyone angry straight away, and everyone talks about it,” the small forward said.
CSKA’s record meant that CSKA fans were not happy with anything but dominating victories, even against domestic rivals with strong teams, Kirilenko said.
“It’s very hard to win by 20 points, but if you don’t win by 20, it’s counted as a poor game for some reason,” he said.
“Basketball isn’t standing still, all the teams can play. Khimki have built a team to play in the Euroleague, UNICS are a team at Euroleague level.”
Under coach Jerry Sloan at the Utah Jazz, by contrast, winning was the only goal, and rather than dominant victories, Kirilenko said.
“Jerry Sloan always had the concept that he didn’t care what happened, the main thing was to win.”
Kirilenko added that he was looking forward to playing for Russia at the Olympics in London in August, and that he thought himself unlikely to play in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, when he will be 35.
Kirilenko became the youngest player in Russian Super League history when he debuted for Spartak St. Petersburg in 1997 aged 16, before moving to CSKA and then the Jazz in 2011. He returned to CSKA in October after a decade in the United States.
