One of the first to appear in the stands of the St. Petersburg KSK Arena was a young Lokomotiv fan with a poster in support of John Jenkins. The boy clearly knew something – Jenkins appeared in the starting lineup for the Krasnodar team for the first time.
The beginning of the game was an ice cold shower for Loko players and fans: Zenit took the 0:9 lead by the 3rd minute. Then the guests seem to find an answer to the opponent’s pressure: Andrei Martyuk dunked after a pick-n-roll with Patrick Miller, Anton Kvitkovskikh put the ball back to the basket after a long-shot miss by Antonius Cleveland, Cleveland and Miller scored after the solo runs – the score became 8:13, and the game seemed to be leveled. But Zenit made the margin double-digit in just 20 seconds due to Vince Hunter’s breaskthrough, and Okaro White’s shot from afar.
Since that, the pace dropped due to a large number of fouls on both sides. Vladislav Yemchenko felt good in such a game: his free throws at the end of the quarter seemed to have returned the difference in the score to a tolerable “–8”, but Georgy Zhbanov managed to score a three-point buzzer – 18:29.
At the beginning of the 2nd quarter, Lokomotiv players continued to bravely find fouls under the opponent’s hoop. Kirill Elatontsev scored his free throws, Yemchenko added 2+1 in one attack. The next 4 points were scored by Alexey Shved. Yemchenko responded with a steal and 1+1 from the free throw line – 25:35. Dwayne Bacon brought Zenit 3 points, then 2. Our team found an answer: Miller scored with tough contact, Martyuk put a hook into the target. But Zenit was noticeably better in choosing shot positions and luckier in their execution – so, after two long-range shots in a row by Bacon, the score began to become sad for us, 35:53. Yet, Loko managed to pull themselves together at the end of the quarter: Cleveland’s pass to the arc to Isaiah Whaley, a dunk from Cleveland and another fine slalom by Miller reduced the margin to almost the same mark from which the quarter started, 44:56.
The almost twofold difference in accuracy was noteworthy: Lokomotiv scored 13 out of 35 field shots (37%) in the first 20 minutes, Zenit – 18 out of 28 (64%). That is, even our 9 offensive rebounds (while the opponent had none) did not produce much effect.
After the game resumed, Jenkins came out again, scored from mid-range – and thus started a rapid shootout: White scored from beyond the arc; Miller immediately responded with a similar hit; White made in a mid-range shot; Cleveland did the same. But once Loko missed its turn to hit the hoop, Zenit was invincible, and their lead grew a little more. Also, the opponent also caught the courage: in the 3rd quarter, Javier Pascual’s team scored 6 long-range attempts. However, we still managed to keep the distance that we are used to play back – 65:82 after 3-pointers by Kvitkovskikh and Martyuk.
В начале 4-й четверти соперник засушил игру. И, несмотря на классное попадание Кирилла Темирова, блок-шот Мартюка Бэйкону, да и в целом неплохую агрессию от почти чисто русской пятёрки, разница в счёте сокращалась как-то слишком медленно – 69:84 к 33-й минуте. А тут ещё Бэйкон включил турборежим, набрав 6 очков за полторы минуты, Трент Фрейзер один за другим попал два очень куражных трёхочковых – 70:96, и оставшиеся полпериода превратились в формальность. Хотя порой нашим запасным и удавались красивые моменты, до возрождения реальной интриги дело в этот вечер не дошло.
In the 4th quarter, Zenit slowed the game down. And, despite a great shot by Kirill Temirov, a block by Martyuk to Bacon, and generally good aggression from the almost purely Russian five, the gap was decreasing way too slowly – 69:84 by the 33rd minute. And then Bacon turned on the turbo mode, scoring 6 points in a minute, Trent Frazier put in two very courageous 3-pointers – 70:96, and the remaining half-period turned into a formality. Although our reserves sometimes managed to perform fine, the real intrigue did not revive.
This defeat happened to be the biggest for Loko in the current VTB United League championship (the previous anti-record was “-9”). But in the playoff series, the gap in the score does not matter. We believe that the team and the coaching staff will draw the right conclusions from this result. It’s just the beginning. Go, Loko!
The next game will be held in St. Petersburg on May 7. The start is at 8 PM.