The Lokomotiv Kuban guard answered questions from St. Petersburg journalists after the second semi-final game with Zenit (80:85).
- Why did Loko start so good?
- When you lose almost 30 points in the first game, you want to give some kind of response in the second. This season, we often started not the way we wanted. And I'm glad that today we played aggressively in defense from the first minutes. Then Zenit levelled the game but I still think that we defended well, making it hard for their leaders to shoot. The defeat is disappointing, but the series lasts up to 4 wins. We are all professionals, we don't hang our heads. Now we'll be sad for half an hour - and then we'll start to prepare for the next game in Krasnodar.
- What happened in the 2nd quarter when Loko missed a 0:17 run in just 2.5 minutes?
- Things like this sometimes happen. Of course, we want to be consistent and make our bad periods as short as possible. If your offense does not go well, you still must be stable in defense. And during the run you are talking about, we did not play the defense we needed.
- In the 4th quarter Loko got ahead by 9 points. Why didn't you maintain this advantage?
- We need to rewatch the game to give an exact answer. I remember that I missed two important shots – I take full responsibility for that. In such games, details decide: somewhere we failed to take a rebound, somewhere we didn’t run enough. At the end, Zhora [Zhbanov] scored three-pointers from the corner twice. Someone will say “he was lucky.” But you can also say “we could have worked harder.” When you defend well for 20 seconds and then let go a little, things like this can happen.
- How much of an impact did the removal of two players at the end have?
- We have a long roster, so we must not be affected by several players missing. As for technical fouls, I can say that I work hard to never get them. You may not agree with the referee’s decision, but you shouldn’t waste energy arguing with them. You can only make things worse by doing that.
- Is that what your coaches tell you?
- Coaches, doctors, mamas, papas – everyone [the audience laughs]. That's it, no more questions? See you then, St. Petersburg. We'll be back soon.
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