Loko coaches started with a big surprise: Vsevolod Ishchenko appeared in the starting five. From the first seconds, our youngster guarded Zenit’s best scorer, Dwayne Bacon. And Ishchenko made a good impression – not only did he stopped his opponent, but also managed to score. Yet, at some point he received two fouls in one Petersburger’s possession and went on a break (but later he will return and continue to play fine).
Both teams showed spectacular, team and fast play in the 1st quarter. Tahjere McCall scored Loko’s first points with great skill. Patrick Miller and Kirill Yelatontsev performed good in the paint. Zenit was actively looking for either Vince Hunter in our paint or snipers on the perimeter – Georgy Zhbanov, Andrey Vorontsevich and Sergey Karasev scored 4 three-pointers in the first 10 minutes. Alex Poythress burst into the game from the bench – his activity allowed the Petersburgers to break away by 6 points at some point, but Antonius Cleveland summed up the quarter from the free throw line, 19:24.
Overall, the game looked – and was – lightning-fast: the first quarter flew by in 16 minutes of real time.
Two accurate throws by Yelatontsev from about two meters each, as well as a long-range shot by Miller reduced Lokomotiv’s deficit to 1 point. Alexey Shved stood at the free throw line twice, but both times with 50% accuracy, and soon McCall tied it – 28:28.
But then Poythress appeared on the court again and scored the next 6 points for Zenit, after which our team let themselves involved in a shootout from beyond the arc – and began to clearly lose in this: Trent Frazier and Karasev brought the score to 31:45 in favor of the guests by the big break. And the difference in the accuracy of 3-pointers at that time was depressing for the fans of the Krasnodar team: 1 out of 12 against 7 out of 13 for Javier Pascual’s guys.
When the game resumed, Vorontsevich scored another 3-pointer, and the gap reached “–17”. McCall’s determination came in very handy, and in the counterattack he was not afraid to throw from beyond the arc – and finally made it! In these difficult minutes, it was McCall who took the game upon himself: he scored two free throws; in the next episode he put the ball back after his own miss; then he assisted to Cleveland – 40:48 and a timeout for Zenit.
The difference in how much more aggressive and tighter Lokomotiv’s defense became compared to the 2nd quarter was obvious. The visiting players often stood at the free throw line, and the difference in the score again became double-digit – but gradually Zenit began to take contest shots, and sometimes simply did not fit into 24 seconds. And our team was slowly chipping away the gap, and after a 3-pointer from Cleveland it was already “–5”, and Miller with a mid-range shot set the score to 53:57, with which the teams went into the final break.
Loko allowed the opponent to score only 12 points in the 3rd quarter and continued in the same way in the 4th. And in addition to this, our guys began to actively go under the opponent’s hoop, so that Zenit exhausted their foul limit already in the 33rd minute. Andrei Martyuk gave good pressure on the opponent’s shield, and Miller turned on the same berserker mode that he had in the overtime of Game #4, and began to stamp out points one couple after another. But with the score 59:61, for the umpteenth time today, Poythress again created a gap for Zenit – this time by 8 points. However, this time Loko was also able to come back: two successful stops in defense, and McCall made the gap acceptable, 65:69.
Теперь в атаке уже мы: Елатонцев получает мяч под кольцом, решает отпасовать на дугу Миллеру – а тот точным броском сокращает разницу до минимума!
With this 4-point difference, the opponents enter the final 2 minutes. McCall takes control of the game again – and forces Frazier to foul. The 6,000-strong crowd in the stands falls silent– the Lokomotiv players have already missed 11 free throws today!.. But McCall is accurate both times.
In the counterattack, Bacon takes the shot (who else but him, who scored 30 points 3 days ago?) – misses, but the miniature Frazier takes the rebound, returns it to Bacon, which doesn’t miss on the second try – 70:74 with 1.13 left.
Now we are in the attack: Yelatontsev gets the ball under the hoop, decides to pass it to Miller on the arc – and our point guard !
Bacon with his back to the hoop is looking for an opportunity to push McCall, but our player knocks the ball down, Loko rushes into a counterattack, and now it’s Cleveland who decides to shoot from beyond the arc. Miss! But in the fight for the rebound, Yelatontsev is ahead of everyone, passes to Miller again, and Poitress fouls – this is the 5th personal foul for Zenit’s best sniper of the evening (23 points).
Miller is on the line. The scoreboard shows 73:74. This season, there was already a case when our point guard threw a free throw at “–1” in the final seconds – in Yekaterinburg on March 1. Then our player missed, and Uralmash won. But in this semi-final, a completely different Miller is playing – the current one calmly scores both throws.
75:74, and Pascual takes a timeout to come up with a winning combination for the last 20.4 seconds. They eventually decide to give the ball to Bacon. Cleveland guards him – and without a foul, makes it so difficult for the Zenit leader to shoot that he misses! Our rebound – and a victory!
The series is tied at 3-3. We are looking forward to Game #7. It will be held in Saint Petersburg on May 22, the opening face-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM.
We believe in the team – how can you not believe in those who win games like today or #4, which we saw 6 days ago?
Go, Loko! We are pushing to the end, we are gaining momentum!