Pari NN arrived to Krasnodar with 10 players, two of whom – Vladimir Semenchenko and Georgy Shilokhvostov – should rather be considered youth team players. Their two leaders – Zach Nutall and Nemanja Đurišić – stayed at Nizhny Novgorod due to injuries.
However, the guests started off briskly: Evgeny Baburin put three 3-pointers into the Loko’ basket in a couple of minutes, Igor Volkhin scored from any distance, Sergei Zotkin inventively brought Alexander Khomenko and Alexander Chadov into scoring positions.
Lokomotiv, at the same time, had a visibly hard time playing in the opening minutes. They managed to score points mainly thanks to isolations: either Patrick Miller’s, or Antonius Cleveland’s. 22:25 in favor of the guests at the end of the 1st quarter seemed like a completely fair result.
In the 2nd quarter, it seemed every now and then that Loko had finally woken up and would tilt the game in their favor, as had already happened more than once this season. This feeling would be with us until the final siren.
Isaiah Whaley was giving fire in his unusual position as a center; Vladislav Yemchenko began to shower the basket with accurate throws; Miller got angry and dunked twice; Danil Sheyanov made a spectacular put-back; Anton Kvitkovskikh skillfully found a foul and added 2+1 to the team’s score.
But Nizhny Novgorod continued to stay ahead almost all the time – sometimes just a little, and sometimes by 7 points. Center Ilya Karpenkov felt great in the physical struggle in the posts, with whom the whole Krasnodar front line could do nothing. Sheyanov and Yemchenko tied the score twice at the end of the quarter, but Khomenko scored the buzzer from mid-range – and Pari NN went into the big break as leaders, 47:49.
After the game resumed, Kirill Temirov and Cleveland quickly put Lokomotiv ahead, but once again Chadov and Karpenkov organized a counter-run, 1:8. Miller dunked for the third time that game (who would’ve expected that from 185-cm player?), and when Pari NN again ran away by 7 points, Temirov scored a three, Yemchenko made a great assist to Whaley. And as soon as Baburin scored his fourth 3-pointer this evening, Temirov and Yemchenko also scored from afar, bringing Loko to leading position – 70:68 by the last break!
However, Pari NN did not want to accept the superstition that whoever wins the 3rd quarter wins the entire game. In the 4th quarter, real basketball chess began, which certainly brought great pleasure to connoisseurs of fine tactical work.
But Loko fans were hardly pleased by the fact that their favorites repeatedly missed the opportunity to create a gap that would have allowed them to avoid a clutch. Miller fought like a lion: he took the rebound after his own miss and scored; he assisted Aleksandr Gudumak’s dunk; with 74 seconds left, with the score 83:84 he made 2+1.
But the opponent did not flinch here either: Baburin immediately levelled the score, and soon Volkhin from the free throw line brought his team ahead by 2 points. Miller still had an equaliser shot, but missed that time. And later, with 0.3 left in the game, Cleveland managed to make a throw from outside the 3-point line – the ball rolled mockingly along the hoop and bounced out.
We must honestly admit that the Nizhny Novgorod team fully deserved that victory with their dedication. And Lokomotiv should work on playing as fiercely against any opponent as they do against CSKA and Zenit.
Lokomotiv’s next game will be on February 1 against Avtodor at 3 PM. Please note: this is the team’s last home game this winter, then Basket Hall will host the VTB United League only on March 9! So we are waiting for you in the stands – let’s see how our team works on mistakes.