Before the start of the game, Patrick Miller received his MVP award for January from the hands of Alexey Ivanov, Deputy Minister of Sports of the Krasnodar krai.
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At the start of the game, both opponents defended much better than they attacked. The score was opened closer to the end of the 2nd minute – Kirill Yelatontsev turned Miller’s clever pass into “2+1”. From that moment on, Lokomotiv began to attack quite inventively: the recovered Andrey Martyuk pleased the crowd with a three-pointer; Miller gathered bunches of opponents around himself and made timely assists to free team-mates; Tahjere McCall either performed a confident drives to the hoop, or threw from beyond the arc; Danil Sheyanov and Anton Kvitkovskikh found the perfect position for a shot with swift passing.
At that time, Zenit managed to score only free throws and some really desperate throws like a mid-range one from Georgy Zhbanov or a three-pointer from Alexey Shved from a negative angle at the same time as the siren buzzed for 24 seconds violation. By the end of the first quarter, Lokomotiv was leading very confidently – 32:17.
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During the first break, men from the Lokomotiv fan sector danced on the Basket Hall parquet floor in honor of March 8 – you just look at that.
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At the start of the 2nd quarter, Vince Hunter played 2+1, and this eventually turned into a 0:11 run for Zenit. When Kirill Temirov was finally able to score the first points for Lokomotiv in this period, it was 34:28. But good momentum of the 1st quarter was obviously gone, and the opponents began to seep through our defense once and again.
Zenit got within one possession, but Dmitry Uzinsky returned a little difference with a shot from the very corner, 39:33. Over the next few minutes, only Antonius Cleveland managed to score points in favor of the hosts – the so-called “second chance”. Then McCall scored, and Lokomotiv was able to hold on to the lead by the big break, 48:46.
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After the change of sides, Zenit first tied the game, and then Andrey Vorontsevich put the guests ahead with a long shot. Another bold 3-pointer of his made the score 53:59. It’s good that Loko was able to put the opponent on a foul trouble by the middle of the quarter. A few free throws by the hosts, a long one from Sheyanov followed by a dunk from Alex Poythress – that’s how the game opened up. It turned out to be in favor of our team: Miller made a clever bounce pass to Yelatontsev for a dunk, then the MVP of January ran away himself and made the opponent do goaltending – and Loko is back in the game, 70:72!
But then Dwayne Bacon, who did not score a single shot in the first half, said his piece: first he scored a 3-pointer along with the 24 seconds buzzer, and then scores one more long-distance buzzer – 70:78 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
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The game resumed, but Bacon seemed to have never stopped: he scored 2 points, then 2 more – and Zenit now it’s “+12” for Zenit! But the most interesting things were still ahead.
Dmitry Uzinsky noticeably invigorated Lokomotiv, scoring in a quick transition after Miller’s interception. Yelatontsev blocked Hunter’s shot, half a minute later Temirov skillfully assisted to Uzinsky in a counterattack – and now it was time for Pascual to take a timeout – 75:82, 6 minutes before the siren. If the pause did anyone any good, it was Uzinsky: he forced Okaro White to make a turnover and scored another 2 points. This was already the same Lokomotiv that started well: Miller scored from mid-range, Yelatontsev grabbed a defensive rebound, Temirov equalized, and that was the moment when 5924 spectators really started roaring – 83:83 with 3.5 minutes left!
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Hunter quickly brought the two-point lead to Zenit. After Loko’s miss, the opponent rushed to attack again, but Cleveland, in a desperate fall, regained possession, and Miller scored three points in a situation when no one expected it – 86:85! Oh, who would have known then that this hit, so beautiful, would eventually play a cruel joke on us.
After Zenit’s timeout, Bacon found a foul and put his team ahead. The hosts rushed to recoup, and Yelatontsev performed an alley-oop from Miller’s pass – Loko was ahead again, 88:87 with a minute and a half left!
Loko did a good piece of defense, but Miller decided to repeat his contest shot – and that time was blocked by Bacon, who immediately made the score 88:89. At that moment, Cleveland decided to save the home arena with a long shot – missed! And lucky we were that Shved also missed from behind the arc. Uzinsky rushed into a counterattack, was fouled on – 12 seconds on the scoreboard, and Yelatontsev is suffering under our ring, is it another injury? Good health to Kirill!
Uzinsky scored only one free throw out of two. Lokomotiv defended good, squeezed Zenit’s attack into the most inconvenient position – but Zhbanov scored a very difficult 3-pointer – with the buzzer, from under two guardians, off the backboard.
We still had 0.3 seconds left – and Temirov managed to throw a saving 3-pointer. But the audience was not destined to see two miracle shots in a row that evening.
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So what are we supposed to think about this result? Lokomotiv started by driving the team with the longest winning streak in the championship around the court in an exemplary manner. Then Loko turned into a pumpkin. And just when everyone was getting downhearted, our guys dragged their rival, who had caught their courage, back into the clutch, where everything was not just decided at the very last second, but TWICE decided at the very last second.
Draw your own conclusions. And we are waiting for you at Basket Hall on Wednesday for the game against Samara and on Sunday at CSKA. Go, Loko!