Against CSKA (90:95 ET), the Lokomotiv Kuban guard set his new career high – it’s 19 points now.
- How important is it to you that your career high came in a crucial game against a tough opponent?
- Well, of course, it’s nice to show off your skills against such an opponent, but it doesn’t really matter when the team is losing.
- How did Loko manage to drag the game to a tense clutch after a bad start?
- Compared to the first game against CSKA, this time we at least tried to defend, but it still didn't work. We also fell apart badly in the first half; Melo Trimble did whatever he wanted. We committed a lot of turnovers, and the coach emphasized this during the long break, saying that 13 turnovers was too many, that it converted into easy points for the opponent and did not let us do anything offensively. After the break, we came out fired up, defended as a team, moved the ball good, and reduced almost the entire gap in a couple of minutes. But then again we slipped a little into individual actions. We allowed the opponent to get into the rhythm of the game again. And we squandered a game we were essentially winning, allowing them to score something that shouldn't have been allowed. When BJ [Johnson] scored, the buzzer sounded, and I thought that we won. And even when they decided to rewind and give CSKA 0.6 seconds, I didn't believe that the ball would even make it to our three-second zone in that time. But in the end, everything turned out the other way around.
- What thoughts were going through your head when the coach sent you out to play for the most crucial minutes?
- Nothing special. Just a thought that we must win. So, we had to defend, then fight in attack, and defend again. And that was it. I'm so sad that we didn't win...
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