"The second quarter influenced the outcome of the match": Popovic and Kasyanov after the home game against CBK

Zenit-2 head coach Oliver Popovic shared his comments on the results of the match in the 13th round of the FONBET Super League against CBK (87:89).

— First of all, I congratulate Chelbasket on their victory. We started the first quarter well, played normally throughout the first quarter, but completely collapsed defensively in the second. It turned out that we allowed 36 points in the second quarter, while we allowed only 37 points in the entire second half. So that determined who would win today's match. The second quarter defensively was just terrible.

Blue-White-Sky Blues forward Ivan Kasyanov also analyzed the match against the Ural team.

— The team started the match with a 15:4 run, but then gave the initiative to the opponent and went into halftime down by 15 points. If we talk about the first half, what caused such a turnaround?

— We failed to execute the defensive assignments given to us by the coach. We allowed 36 points in the second quarter. That is unacceptable. And, in principle, that’s why we went into halftime down by 15. We simply did not defend well.

— What helped the team regain its spirit at the end and put up a fight in the final minutes?

— What helped us was that we started to defend better. We allowed only 37 points in the second half — the same amount we allowed in the second quarter. Plus, we managed to do better offensively. We moved the ball better, got open, and attacked. But we were just a bit unlucky at the end. I think that in the future, we will win in such endings.