Tahjere McCall missed Game 3 of the bronze series at the insistence of the Lokomotiv medical staff. But at first the team did well without him: Vsevolod Ishchenko opened the scoring after a brave dash into the paint, Antonius Cleveland scored a-la McCall. And when UNICS ran away by 7 points, Isaiah Whaley got into action – he scored 4… or rather, even 5 points from the free throw line in two approaches, since while his fourth shot was bouncing around the hoop, Ismaёl Bako allowed a goaltending (what is always recorded as a two-pointer).
Patrick Miller started scoring, Kirill Yelatontsev showed some class in the opponent’s paint, Whaley scored from afar – that’s how Lokomotiv went into the first break as the leader, 21:19.
The start of the 2nd quarter looked quite optimistic for Loko fans: Kirill Temirov scored a 3-pointer, Whaley and then Miller made the score 28:21. However, the subsequent series of turnovers allowed UNICS to tie the game. After a timeout, John Jenkins scored from the perimeter, Miller immediately added 2+1. But the Kazan team – due to our several more turnovers – quickly took the lead, after which a frequent change of leader began – in these minutes, Yelatontsev scored from afar, and a little later Cleveland made the score 42:42.
But UNICS again ran away by 5 points. Good that Vladislav Yemchenko managed to score a buzzer from a gorgeous pass from Miller – 44:47.
Loko was leading quite confidently in rebounds by the big break (24:15), but also had almost twice as many turnovers – 14 versus 8.
After the side switch, Cleveland scored a 3-pointer and immediately made a steal, which was converted into free throws by Andrei Martyuk. But the score 48:49, due to a series of our misses, quickly turned into 50:59. After a timeout, Yemchenko scored from beyond the arc at the very end of the possession – and until the 29th minute, the game was at a distance of 6-8 points. But at the end of the quarter, Kvitkovskikh missed a long throw, and Darrun Hilliard scored his – and we went into the last break with a double-digit deficit, 59:70.
It was noteworthy that by this point UNICS had almost caught up with us in rebounds – but in terms of losses, alas, the ratio did not change.
But, just like two days ago, the most interesting part was just beginning. Lokomotiv seemed to have pushed the accelerator: Miller won a rebound from two much taller UNICS players and in a counterattack passed to Yemchenko for a 3-pointer from the corner. Cleveland also put in a long shot, about which you just want to say “courage is rewarded sometimes”. Whaley made a block on DeVaughn Acoon-Purcell’s shot and a few seconds later made the score 67:72.
But the referees classified Miller’s foul on Bako as unsportsmanlike, and after Hilliard responded with a long-range shot to Yelatontsev’s 2-pointer, the gap got double-digit again, 69:79.
Cleveland did not plan to give up – he rushed to the hoop and gave a great assist to Whaley. Miller scored 2+1, and Lokomotiv’s pressure immediately worked: Temirov grabbed the ball from Marcos Knight and brought Miller to the empty hoop, 76:80! Mikhail Belenitsky increased the gap with a 3-pointer, but Temirov also scored from the arc – 79:83 and 3 minutes to play!
Nervous, chaotic basketball began with a lot of misses and mutual mistakes. Yelatontsev’s fall during UNICS’ attack also initially seemed like another gaffe, but our staff requested a video review, and the referees found an unsportsmanlike foul by Jalen Reynolds! Our center scored both attempts, but the ball remained with the opponent, and Akoon-Purcell found an opportunity to score 2 points from close range. Loko made a great play in response, Cleveland got the ball in the corner – and reduced the margin to a minimum, 84:85 with 1.08 left!
Dmitry Kulagin was quickly fouled, and he scored 1+1. In a counterattack, Temirov missed from afar, but we also managed to repel UNICS’ attack. Loko rushed to look for an opportunity to make up 3 points in the rapidly melting seconds. Yelatontsev received the ball on the arc – and he was fouled before he had time to shoot. The referees considered it a “foul below” – two free throws with 2.2 left!
Kirill calmly scored the first shot – 85:87. And then he scored the second – to the surprise of everyone who thought that there would be a deliberate miss counting on a rebound and put-back.
Knight got the ball, he was fouled with exactly 2.0 game time left on the clock. The UNICS point guard scored the first free throw – and threw the second one with the obvious intention of missing, which is what happened. Whaley took the rebound and even managed to throw the ball towards the opponent’s basket – but no miracle happened.
With the score 0-2 in favor of Kazan, the best-of-5 series moves to Krasnodar. Game 3 will take place on May 31 at 3 PM. We believe that Game 4 will be needed as well – June 2 at 19:30 is reserved for it.
We can definitely defeat such an UNICS – especially with the support of our fans, who helped the team so much in the semi-final series.
Go, Loko! Push to the end, gain the momentum!