The game started off fast: Patrick Miller scored through tough contact, Vsevolod Ishchenko showed his skills, Isaiah Whaley was not egoistic in the paint, finding Andrei Martyuk with an assist – 10:10 was reached by the 4th minute.
After that, UNICS pulled ahead by 5 points, but Tahjere McCall finished two attacks in a row, reducing the gap to a minimum. At these minutes, both opponents fouled each other a lot, and eventually missed from the free throw line, so Kirill Temirov (by the way, the team captain this evening) at some point tied the game, 21:21. The next 4 points were scored by Jalen Reynolds, but Loko showed great defense, which gave some momentum to the attack: Anton Kvitkovskikh scored from beyond the arc, Antonius Cleveland put our team ahead, and at the end of the quarter Kirill Yelatontsev had a chance to increase the gap, but his dunk did not go into the basket, and Ismaёl Bako managed to hammer the ball into the basket at the buzzer – 26:27.
The elegant combination by Cleveland and Yelatontsev at the start of the 2nd quarter set Loko fans in an optimistic mood, but our guys suddenly stopped doing well with shots from under the hoop, and it was even worse with rebounds – UNICS’ advantage in this component at some point became twofold (actually, it remained like that until the final siren, sorry for the spoiler). So 28:29 quickly turned into 28:33, and then – into 30:38.
Cleveland won back 2 points after a timeout, and John Jenkins scored from afar, making it 35:40 – but that was it: the players in white stopped even scoring free throws. UNICS also made many mistakes, but Marcos Knight and his almost namesake Marcus Keane kept increasing the margin. The teams went into the big break with 39:54 in favor of the hosts.
But Lokomotiv’s greatest strength this season is its ability to come out in the 3rd quarter having worked on its mistakes. And we saw it once again. The team burst into the fight, the ball started being moved in attack – this allowed to either find a free Kvitkovskikh under the hoop or bring Yelatontsev to an open long shot. UNICS kept their distance for a while thanks to the courage of DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, but gradually stopped coping with such pressure.
With the score 51:68 and the opponent in possession, Kvitkovskikh made a block, Yelatontsev scored from afar for the second time this quarter, McCall made a steal and Kvitkovskikh scored another 3, and Cleveland immediately took the ball away from Knight – and lit up 57:68 on the scoreboard. UNICS was able to start striking back, but by the end of the quarter, Lokomotiv still managed to get away from a double-digit loss – Miller was the last to score in this period with his signature run, 66:75.
A chase? A chase!
Yelatontsev forces Knight to make a run, and Miller gets back 2 points. Dmitry Kulagin also scores 2 points; the opponents exchange misses from behind the arc, and then Knight does isolation, misses, and Cleveland makes it 70:78. But Bako is still a powerhouse in the post – the Belgian puts the ball back after his partner’s miss – here we go again with the 10 points margin!
Well, we start going: Yelatontsev grabs the ball away from Reynolds, Cleveland runs away in a counterattack. Yemchenko also makes a steal – but Miller misses, and Darrun Hilliard hits it from beyond the arc, 72:83.
Lokomotiv increases the momentum a little more, Miller’s steal leads to Cleveland’s easy basket; After a UNICS timeout, Miller makes another steal and throws an alley-oop to Whaley; and Whaley himself immediately takes the ball away from Keane and passes it to Cleveland – 80:85 with 2.48 left in the siren! Wow.
In the semifinal series, UNICS has lost even bigger advantage. Their confidence doesn’t seem to be the same as, say, in the 2nd quarter. Yelatontsev takes the ball from Reynolds, Whaley receives the pass on the arc… but fate refuses to smile on our forward in this episode – a miss!..
But McCall keeps fighting – he forces Reynolds to make an attacking foul. Miller shots from 4 meters – a miss! Bako scores after several offensive rebounds in a row, 80:87. The fuss with free throws begins, and now it’s 81:91 with only 40 seconds left on the clock.
That’s all folks? No way!
Cleveland breaks through to the hoop and lays it down; Knight (apparently in some confusion) passes it to Cleveland – 85:91 and 30 seconds to play!
We foul Akoon-Purcell, who scores both free throws. UNICS fouls Cleveland, who also hits it from the line without missing – and the opponent immediately makes another turnover, Yelatontsev passes to Cleveland on the perimeter – and 90:93!
But, alas, no steal happen next that would have given us a chance to tie the score. UNICS makes 2 free throws, and then increases their advantage a little more.
Oh, Lokomotiv, if only you had started to push like that a little earlier…
By the way, big respect to our fan Roman (see photo)!
As for the series for bronze, it has just begun. Yes, the players are tired, but, as it turned out, when it stings, everyone can run, press, pass properly.
We believe that the team will be able to take Game 2 – it will take place on May 28 at 7:30 PM, in Kazan once again. Go, Loko! We’ve come a long way, let’s finish it gloriously!