The Lokomotiv Kuban center scored 14 points, made 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, but Zenit still won (80:82, series score 0-1).
- It seems like you're especially motivated today. Is that right?
- I'm motivated anytime I can win any game. Especially when it's a championship for third place. It's not the finals, but we still have a series for third place. We want to win bronze. At least I want to.
- Will it be hard to maintain that level of motivation for Game 2?
- No, no. We just got to come with a little bit more energy and more focus on a couple plays and our scouting report and stuff and then we'll figure it out, but we have to bring more intensity and more fight to the game.
- Did Zenit surprise you somehow today?
- No, they didn't surprise me. They played like how they always play. And they just kind of out-toughed us to a couple of 50-50 balls, so we got to work on that.
- At the end of the game, Loko totally stopped Zenit. What wasn't enough to win?
- When we're running, when we're getting stops, that's when we're best. So, we have to do that for the whole 40 minutes. We can't take a break and then, when we get down, then start playing. We came back twice and that's hard to do in any playoff series. So, we can't continue to do that each game if we want to win.
- In Game 2, what will be the main thing?
- Like I said, I think we just got to work on getting them 50-50 balls, playing a lot harder than them guys. I think they outplayed us in this game. So if we do that, then we're gonna win the next game.
- There were a lot of Loko fans today. Did it bring a little bit more motivation?
- I mean, of course. I'm always appreciative of the Loko fans, especially when they travel so far and so long to come see us play. It wouldn't be the game of basketball without the fans.
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