Xavi Pascual: "We started the game again soft, without enough intensity"

Zenit head coach Xavi Pascual summarized the results of the game against Pari Nizhny Novgorod (94:79), which took place at the blue-whites home arena. The coach commented on all the key moments of the match and spoke about the condition of the injured players.

— First of all, thanks to all the fans that today they support us and congratulate Nizhny Novgorod for their game. Really, I have to say that they played very well, despite the fact that a lot of players were injured and didn't come today. And for us, I think we did a very good game in the last 30 minutes, but at the first ten, we started the game again soft, without enough intensity, without good defense. And from the beginning of the second quarter, we started to take more energy, we started to play better defense and we start to control the game in another direction.

— What is Xavier Moon's condition?

— Tomorrow we will make some examinations, in this moment we don't know exactly, so we have to wait until tomorrow. I think tomorrow, in the middle of the day, we will make some MRI to understand exactly what happened.

— You spent almost five years here in St. Petersburg, do you agree that Nizhny Novgorod plays better and better year after year?

— Ah, it is not from the beginning that I am here. Always this one very competitive team, always with good coaches, always good school, always working hard with the speed, with the intensity. Yes, it's one team that always is very well coached.

— Georgy Zhbanov has been playing very high quality recent games both on defense and offense. What is the reason?

— He is one very important player for us. The season is long, all the players have ups and downs. But Zhora is one player that is always to play for the team, to help the team in all the situations. Sometimes is more effective, sometimes no. But always is one player that give everything on the court.

— Tell us about the condition of Denis Zakharov. How is the dynamics of his recovery progressing?

— He is improving but still we need to wait. Hi is not going to participate in the next game in Saratov. We’ll see before Samara.

— Is it important to you what place the team will take in the regular season and from where they will qualify for the playoffs? Or is it not so important?

— Yes, it's very important. For me, from my point of view, it's very important to finish the first two and to have the home advantage. But it's going to be very difficult. We had one moment that we won these 12 games consecutive or 13, I don't remember exactly how many. After that, we make a little bit down. So now we have to find a way to recover our best performance and to be ready for the next games and to try to finish as high as possible.