Denis Zakharov: "We'll be looking for mistakes and reasons"

The blue-whites guard Denis Zakharov commented on the result of the first game of the VTB United League final series against CSKA (80:82) and answered journalists' questions during the post-match press conference.

— During the game you were trailing by 20 points. What allowed you to come back from that deficit?

— The coach gave us some instructions during the break, tried to energize the team. So we came out more aggressively and tried to catch up. I think the first quarter was more of an exception. We'll be looking for mistakes and reasons. In the next three quarters, I think we more or less played our basketball.

— Do you have any idea why the team didn’t start the first quarter the same way as the others?

— It's hard to say. We seemed to be just as focused as usual. We arrive at the arena, warm up, shoot — but sometimes shots just don’t fall. We'll analyze whether it was just bad luck or if there were actual reasons behind it.

— You didn’t get much playing time in the semifinal series. Today your appearance seemed to shift the momentum of the game. Were you specifically prepared for CSKA, or was it a coaching improvisation?

— No, before every game the coach talks to all the players and tries to explain things so we’re always ready. In one game some players play more, in another — others. That’s a tactical decision, and the coach knows best. As professionals, we have to be ready for every game and help the team when we get the chance.

— CSKA was leading by 20 points. At that moment, did you sense a drop in their intensity, or did you just get fired up?

— I think it was more that we started playing our slyle of basketball. Maybe they relaxed a bit — after all, it was the first game of the finals. And maybe we hadn’t fully switched on mentally after the semifinals, even though we were physically ready, as we started to catch up after the second quarter.