The Lokomotiv Kuban guard recorded his first double-double in his adult career in the game against BETCITY PARMA (90:77) – 14 points and 10 rebounds.
- Congrats on the win! How was the game?
- Thank you very much for the congratulations. The game was very energetic, especially on defense, and that energy gave us strength on offense.
- It felt like you were everywhere for everything on the court. Was that the coach's directive?
- Well, yes, the coach asked to help our big players get rebounds. I tried, and that's how it turned out.
- Did you know you were one rebound away from a double-double midway through the 4th quarter? Did that affect your game somehow?
- I didn't know about when I was the only one rebound away. But during the big break, Patrick [Miller] told me, "Go get more rebounds, you already have six in the first half." Well, I didn't exactly strive for it, I just stood somewhere, the ball bounced in my direction, I caught it and that was it. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary.
- You also had 2 blocks today—not the typical stat for a guard. Do you remember how you made them?
- The second one, I just stuck my hand out, and they just threw the ball at me. And the first one, yeah, it was a good one – a so-called "chase-down-block," when you press the ball against the backboard. That's about the third or fourth time I've done that in my career.
- In the 4th quarter, the opponent reduced the gap from 27 points to 9. Were you nervous at that moment?
- Maybe just a bit... They scored a couple of tough shots—we hadn't let them score like that before. We seemed to keep doing a pretty good job defensively, but they suddenly started scoring. So we were a little surprised, but in the end, we were able to finish the game more or less calmly.
- What was the key factor for that victory?
- Probably, Ilya Popov's 21 points. When we gave him the ball, he almost always scored, plus he was very active in the paint. Also, it was how played – we moved the ball really well; the coach said at halftime that we had 14 assists after 20 minutes. I don't know how many we ended up with, but I think it was kind of 25 [26 – press service note]. That's a good indicator of our team play, so we just need to strive to repeat that every time, and everything will be okay.
- Could you hear the stands today?
- Yes, that was great! Even though the arena wasn't quite full, the support was very loud. Especially after our good defenses. It really helps the team. Thanks to our fans. Please continue to support us.
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