The Lokomotiv Kuban center returned after a 4-week absence and delivered a solid performance against UNICS (107:80), recording 23 points, 3 steals, and several spectacular dunks.
- What helped Lokomotiv win so firmly over quite a strong opponent?
- We played hard, we played like a team, shared the ball good—32 assists say for themselves. But the most important thing for us today was our defense.
- How would you rate the performance of your fellow player in the same position, Gleb Firsov, who scored 15 points?
- He was good. In fact, everyone on our team played great today. It would be good if we could perform like this every game.
- UNICS has a strong frontcourt, yet Loko dominated them this evening. How did you manage that?
- We did what the coach said and stayed focused from the first minute to the last. We tried not to lose a single episode. But, as I’ve said before, it all starts on the defensive end—you have to build your game on solid defense against any opponent, not just UNICS.
- You played with an incredible level of devotion today. Give us a tip: what do you need to eat to step onto the court so hungry for the game?
- For sure, there’s no special dish for that (laughs). I just really missed the game. Four weeks without games, 3 weeks without training—it was all quite tough. So, I was glad to finally get back on the court and try to show the best of what I can do.
- In the first half, you had an unsuccessful attempt to finish an alley-oop. A little later, one of the referees approached you and said something, and after that, you converted every alley-oop for the rest of the game. Did the referee give you some advice on how to properly execute a dunk?
- No, nothing like that—he just told me not to hang on the hoop anymore. After that, things went well because I stayed focused. One missed dunk isn’t enough to knock me out of the right mindset.
- When playing for the Qatar national team, you take a lot of three-point shots—and you’re quite good at them, too. Yet, at Lokomotiv, you don’t do that. Why?
- With the national team, I play another position; so I often find myself with the ball on the perimeter. At Loko, my role is different—it’s about pick-and-rolls and playing in the post. But if the coach tells me to take three-pointers, I’m ready.
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