Before the game, an awarding ceremony took place: the President of the VTB United League Sergey Kushchenko honoured two Lokomotiv players at once: Kirill Yelatontsev received the prize for the Best young player of the league for the second year in a row (repeating the achievement of Andrei Martyuk, also a two-time “best youngster”), and Antonius Cleveland was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year title.
Two days earlier, Zenit suffered their first defeat in the current playoffs, which resulted in the first change in the starting five of the St. Petersburg team: Georgy Zhbanov replaced Sergey Karasev.
Javier Pascual clearly gave his team a proper boost: in the first minutes, the white-blues defended incredibly actively, with fierce pressure, managing to back up their partners and block lay-ups. After Tajhere McCall scored 2 points from mid-range at the very start, the Loko players managed to score only from the free throw line. But our guys endured, also tried to defend tightly and fast, and fearlessly went for fouls. So Zenit’s top scorers, Trent Frazier and Dwayne Bacon, quickly received two personal fouls each, and the coach benched them to save for more important periods. This gave the Krasnodar team a little more freedom in attack, and thanks to a long-range shot by Cleveland and a put-back by Isaiah Whaley, Loko managed to go into the first break not far behind in the score, 15:20.
In the 2nd quarter, Zenit picked up the pace and tried to break away, but Cleveland continued to score: from a mid-range after 180 degrees jump, after a quick manoeuvre, from beyond the arc. For some time, this allowed us to stay at a 3-5 points distance, but then Vince Hunter scored two very difficult shots in a row, Bacon got his first points this evening, Zhbanov made it from the perimeter – and the scoreboard lit up with an alarming 28:36.
At that moment, Whaley showed his versatility: he finished two attacks in a row, seeping under the hoop, scored a 3-pointer, and in our next attack he made a clever assist to Dmitry Uzinsky, 37:40. Still, the end of the quarter went to the opponent – 37:44.
After the side switch, Zenit continued to attack slightly more effectively, including from the perimeter, and Lokomotiv had to literally bite out every point – apart from Cleveland and Anton Kvitkovskikh, no one from the home team managed to score. So a couple of times – in the 23rd and 27th minutes – the margin became double-digit. But our guys continued to boldly go to the boards, forcing the opponent to foul. And although the percentage of free throws was bad, Frazier received his 4th foul – and again was forced to cool off on the bench.
And the quarter ended with a very inspiring episode: after a miss by Alexey Shved, Cleveland took the ball – and scored from the logo with the siren! (This is how it looked on TV.) 58:64 – Lokomotiv, albeit by 1 point, won the 3rd quarter, and that is always considered a good sign!
Okaro White restored the 9-point gap soon after the game resumed, and this led to a series of several more long-range shots from Zenit, none of which reached the net. McCall scored a very difficult ball in response, and then John Jenkins did what we all expect from him – he scored a 3-pointer, reducing the margin to just one possession, 64:67 with 7 minutes left.
Yelatontsev finally woke up and began to grab one rebound after another. In another attack by Zenit, he knocked the ball out of Bacon’s hands – and Jenkins tied the score!
Yelatontsev grabs another defensive rebound, seconds later gets the ball under the opponent’s hoop, gets fouled, and puts Lokomotiv ahead for the first time since the very first seconds of the game, 69:67.
White gets back 1 point from the free throw line; McCall breaks under the basket and makes a layup with an awkward left hand; Shved ties it from afar – 71:71 and 3.19 on the clock.
Whaley scores 1 free throw out of 2, and Hunter first puts Zenit ahead, and then increases their lead to 3 points – but immediately leaves the court with his fifth foul.
McCall scores both free throws. Whaley prevents Alex Poythress from finishing an alley-oop from Shved – and after a long possession, returns the lead to Lokomotiv! 76:75, and 54 seconds to play.
At the end of Zenit’s 24 seconds, Shved makes a difficult shot – misses, but Poythress grabs the rebound, finds a foul and scores 1 of 2 – 76:76 with 31 seconds to play.
The long possession of Loko ends with Zhbanov fouling McCall. Our player scores both – 78:76, and Zenit takes a timeout to figure out what to do in the remaining 13 seconds.
Bacon finds an opportunity to break under the ring and tie. And Miller’s solo does not lead to a good shot. Overtime! The first one in the VTB United League playoffs in exactly two years: on May 13, 2023, Loko played extra time in the finals against UNICS (the Kazan team won then, but that’s long gone).
In extra time, everybody expected a continuation of the tough fight, but instead we witnessed something completely different – a magic by Miller. In these 5 minutes, our point guard puts out the best solo performance of the United VTB league this season: time after time he simply takes the ball, drags it to the opponent’s basket and scores – in isolation against Zhbanov; with the 24 seconds buzzer; in tough contact.
Zenit managed to keep such pace for about a minute and a half, but as Zhbanov and Karasev leave with their fifth fouls, the gap gets closer to the double-digit mark. White brings back the intrigue for a while – after his free throws it becomes 90:86 with a minute left, but Miller scores again. And Lokomotiv keeps this advantage quite skillfully. Victory!
Cleveland ended up as the top scorer of the game (25 points), while Miller set a VTB United League record by scoring 14 points in overtime (24 total). Wow!
The teams will now play on May 16 in St. Petersburg. And on Monday, May 19, another semifinal series game will take place in Krasnodar. Tickets will be on sale on May 14 at 12 PM.
See you at the Basket Hall! A sporting event of such intensity needs to be seen with your own eyes – ask any of the 4,951 fans who were in the stands this evening.
Go, Loko!