– Before talking about the game, I would like to voice some points that, in my opinion, show disrespect on the part of the host team towards us, – Aleksandar Sekulich started the press conference. – I have a good attitude towards Uralmash. The uralians showed a lot of good things last year, now they play great basketball, they have a good team. But in terms of organizing the opponent’s reception… We didn’t ask for anything special. We were met at the airport not by a regular bus, but by a minibus. We had nowhere to load our luggage, we had to load it into the cabin and sit on the bags. When we arrived for training, we were not allowed to enter the arena at once, but were made to wait outside in bad weather, sent from one entrance to another. Well, and today for some reason it was the hosts who came first to the press conference after the game. This is definitely not the level of hospitality that is appropriate for the VTB United League. It’s disrespectful to us.
- What do you think about the game itself?
- The opponent played with a lot of energy. It was important for us to match that level, which we obviously failed to do. In addition, we made too many mistakes. Nevertheless, we found solutions to bring the first half in our favor. But after the big break, we just failed on defense. Especially in the third quarter, where we allowed the opponent to make too many free throws, including from under the basket. We spent a lot of energy to get back in the game. But every time we got closer in the score, we made unforced errors, and the opponent immediately punished us with points. To summarize, it was the play in the third quarter that cost us the win in this game. We knew that Uralmash would try to rehabilitate themselves for two home defeats. But some of our players didn't realize it and allowed the opponent to take the lead due to the energy they showed in their desire to win.