“Jaylen Barford with a threeee!” – the loud shout by the court announcer guided the very beginning of the semifinals Game 4 in the Krasnodar Basket Hall. That 3:0 stayed on the scoreboard for another 2 minutes, until Andrei Martyuk scored a couple more points for the southerners with his signature dunk. Then Okaro White blocked Dmitry Kulagin, passed to Patrick Miller – 2+1 and 8:0!
But even such a vigorous start did not seem to bother the Kazan team. UNICS started to hit back.
As a result, by the end of the first quarter, the teams swapped roles: Loko stopped scoring, so the guests ran away by 9 points (12:21).
Even then, few could have imagined that UNICS would be able to increase their advantage to 20 points so soon – but it happened, 19:39 in the middle of the 2nd quarter. Despite the good shots by JB and DeVaughn Acoon-Purcell, the gap still remained very big – 30:46 by the big break.
As expected, the red-greens left the locker room as if stung by a wasp – and with the help of the home stands they rushed to reduce the difference in the score.
The mastermind of this chase became Patrick Miller, who was successful both in free throws and mid-range shots. Later, Akoon-Purcell burst into the game like a hurricane: he made his opponents foul several times, and then delighted the audience with a gorgeous dunk on a fast break after an equally spectacular assist from Barford. Another 3-pointer by JB, a couple of free throws by Maurice Ndour after a steal from Jalen Reynolds – and now it’s only 8 points between the teams – 46:54.
Yes, the Krasnodar team has proven more than once during the season that they have an unyielding character, but today UNICS also was hard. In the final minutes the initiative was completely in the hands of the players from the Kazan team – 68:85 by the final siren, and a draw in the series (2-2).
Loko will play their next game away, on May 16, at 19:30. Let’s believe in the team!