"We will work on the mistakes": Popovic and Krivyh about the match against Temp-SUMZ

The head coach of Zenit-2 Oliver Popovic summarized the match against Temp-SUMZ (71:86).

— Congratulations to Revda on the win. When a team has 18 turnovers and 11 fewer rebounds than the opponent, it’s very difficult to win. We completely lost focus in the last 20 minutes. Even during the first half, we allowed too many easy points. It seems that at this moment, Revda is the stronger team. Over the past 2–3 weeks, we’ve had significant problems with injuries and illnesses. A couple of players have a high fever. Misha only had two practices after a break. Pasha hasn’t trained with us at all since Novosibirsk. So it was very challenging. We managed to hold on for 25, maybe 30 minutes. But after that, it became very difficult as neither our defense nor our offense was effective.

— What do you think was the turning point in the game when Temp-SUMZ took the lead?

— As I already mentioned, we had 18 turnovers, and they grabbed 11 more rebounds than us. They also maintained a good pace and high level of play for all 40 minutes. We couldn’t match that. Today, we might have played well for 30 minutes at most. That’s the reason we lost. On top of that, they’re already a very strong team physically and individually.

— The next game is just a few days away. Will there be extra work on the mistakes after this match against Revda?

— Of course, as always, we’ll work on the mistakes after the game. But we only have a couple of days, so we can do just 2–3 practices before the match. We’ll see how things go against Izhevsk.

— You mentioned that we really struggled with rebounds today. Do you think this was because, after the first half, two of our centers were in foul trouble? Samukhin had four fouls, and Krivyh had three.

— Yes, I agree. We had only two big men today. Samukhin had his first practice yesterday after three days of high fever. That’s probably why he picked up fouls so quickly or struggled with foul trouble in general.

— The first quarter went very well for our guys, and we entered the second with a solid lead. Do you think this might have made them a little too relaxed?

— No, I don’t think it relaxed them. It’s just that if you want to beat Revda, you have to play at a high level with full focus for all 40 minutes. We did this for 30 minutes, but in the last 10 minutes, we completely lost focus. Revda is the kind of team that always plays aggressively, both on defense and offense. They have many strong physical players. So, if your focus slips even a little, they will immediately punish you.

Center for the blue-whites Ilya Krivyh shared his thoughts on the game.

— I think we allowed too many easy points. They scored a lot of free throws when they caught us on fouls.

— The first quarter was very confident for the team. How did Temp-SUMZ turn the game around?

— I guess we relaxed on defense, and they started playing more aggressively.

— Was this because the first quarter went so well, and you played it with such confidence?

— Honestly, I don’t know why. We just relaxed. That’s how it happened.

— You had a solid game: 5 out of 6 mid-range shots. Are you satisfied with your performance?

— No. Not satisfied.

— What do you think you could improve on?

— Free throw defense. Decision-making in pick-and-roll situations.