Throughout these playoffs, the captain of Lokomotiv Kuban refused to give interviews as long as the team still had a chance to win the championship. Following the semifinal defeat to CSKA (92:103; series score: 1–4), Miller broke his vow of silence.
- What can you say about the game and the whole series?
- I think we came out not strong enough in the 1st half. In the 2nd half we showed fight and that's the way we should have started the game, but we didn't. But it was a hard-fought series the whole time, so I don't want anybody to think that it was easy. We gave them a fight and we tried to win every game. The score might be a little bit different sometimes, but we competed. We stick together as a team. We're still a team. Whatever happens, the good and the bad. As long as we stay together and we can fight like we did in this series, I think we can win the bronze medal.
- Today, Loko hit a lot of threes. What can you say about it?
- I'm happy we were able to make some threes tonight. We've been not making them all season. So I think we shot more threes tonight, that is good. Like the way they play defense, it's like they clog the paint. So they make us pass out and shoot the ball. So just shooting it with confidence and control what we can control, just have fun. Hopefully we can carry that into the bronze medal series.
- Looks like the coach always motivates you and talks about believing in yourself and being together, is that that way?
- He's been good since he got here. He trusts us, I trust him. He's like a dog. He doesn't quit. He tries to fire us up. He's fired up all the time. I think that's the Serbian in him. We appreciate that. He gets on everybody the same. And we need that, I always said that. Coming here, we need a coach like that to just get on players, hold everybody accountable, and that's what he does. And I know he's gonna continue to do that, cuz he really wanna win.
- You didn't give interviews the whole playoffs, why?
- I was trying to lock in. I wanted to try to focus and try my best to try to help us get over that hump and get to the finals.
- The bronze series is coming. What can you say about it?
- Whoever we play against, we need to really focus on trying to win this year. I tried it twice with Loko and we lost both times. So this year, I hope we can focus enough to actually get a medal. I think bronze would be good for the year we had the ups and downs and the players and the coach switch. So that's what we're shooting for. Now we gotta refocus and we got time to. The first game after June 1st. So we got enough time to get our minds back. We need to have fun and just try to win third place for us, for the organization and the fans.
- Some words for the fans?
- Thanks for the support. They believe in us like how we believe in ourselves. We needed it. That kind of support goes a long way. It makes me think about them when I'm playing and disappointed when we lose, not just for myself, but for them too. So I think they did a good job with that and hopefully they can continue to support us and try to get the medal.
Share with Friends: