Denis Zakharov: "After the first game, we were on equal footing"

Zenit guard Denis Zakharov shared his thoughts on the victory over PARMA (92:79) in the second game of the VTB United League quarterfinal series.

— We’re happy to have earned this hard-fought win. After the first game, both teams had the same amount of time to recover, so we were on equal footing. That’s why, despite it being a tough game, we’re glad we came out on top.

— PARMA’s coach promised some surprises for the away game. Are you ready for them?

— Of course, we’ll have a few surprises of our own. We know their arena can get loud, so we’ll be fully prepared to play for the win.

— You had a great start today, but then the opponent caught up and closed the gap to 3–4 points. In your opinion, why did that happen? Did Zenit maybe ease up a bit?

— No, I don’t think there was any easing up — at this level and stage of the season, that’s just not possible. It’s just that PARMA has some good players too, you know. It’s tough to keep them to 4–6 points per quarter the whole game. At some point, they hit their shots and we missed ours — that’s basketball. Like I said, we’re just happy we came away with the win.