The Lokomotiv Kuban guard received the VTB United League's Best Young Player award before the first home game of the semifinal, but it didn't result into a victory–CSKA won 100:81 and took a 2-1 series lead.
- What were your thoughts when you found out you were going to receive the Best Young Player award?
- I thought it would be no big deal if I didn't win this award, but it turned out that I did. However, it's a great honor. I'd like to thank the VTB United League for the recognition, the club's coaching staff, management, doctors, and teammates for allowing me to handle situations, believing in me, and supporting me.
- What about today's game?
- The series turned into a real battle. Today there was everything you can imagine: arguments, fights. But this is the playoffs, I think it will continue. It will probably get even tougher, and we need to respond. They won by 20 points against us at home – that's absolutely not what we were expecting. We'll try to respond appropriately.
- Was there some key moment today?
- We played well in the 1st quarter, you could even say we controlled the game. But then Casper [Ware]... I don't know what he ate today, but he played really well, hitting tough shots, overhand threes, mid-range ones—he didn't care about our defense. Even though our defense wasn't what it should be in the playoffs. It's tough to defend against players like that, but it's possible.
- In the first game of the series, one of the factors in Loko's victory was your ability to contain both Ware and Melo Trimble. Why did that stop working, and how can we stop them again?
- These are high-level players; they've been playing for quite a while, both for CSKA and in our league. So, they probably can't always miss. Despite our defense, these players must produce results, and we must prevent them from doing so. We'll try to prevent this from happening next time.
- Was there something good for Loko today?
- Yes. Being down 23 points in the 3rd quarter, despite all the foul troubles, fatigue, and the fact that our opponent kept scoring tough shots, we cut it to 12 points. But we played too hard in the first 7 seconds of the 4th quarter, got 2 fouls, and after that, we probably became a little more cautious. Then we tried to come back again, but CSKA rarely gives up games like that, and it didn't happen today.
- The series goes on. How do you think will Game 4 go?
- We'd like to play like we're home, like we're the boss, or something. We'd like to repay the offer CSKA made. We've already shown we can play against them. If we keep doing that, everything will work out as it should.
Share with Friends: