"We played with dignity today": Popovic and Evstafiev after the win over Pari NN

Zenit-2 head coach Oliver Popovic commented on the home victory over Pari Nizhny Novgorod (84:83) in the first game of the Gazprombank Russian Cup quarterfinal.

— Thanks to the fans who watched the game. The arena was full — it was beautiful. The guys did a great job today, except for the fourth quarter. But you understand that we’re playing against a team of the VTB United League level, and in the fourth quarter we simply lacked both energy and concentration. There were a couple of passes straight into their hands, which they used to score easy points. We lacked power on offense. We made a few bad decisions, and that’s why the final score is what it is. Honestly, it could have been a bit bigger. But overall, it’s fine — we played with dignity today.

— How difficult was it for the team to play immediately after the New Year holidays against a VTB United League-level opponent?

— Listen, I really hate this New Year break. After the first game and the first practice following New Year’s, there are always problems. Still, we had four practices after the holidays, so we tried to make sure the guys were fresh. Their mindset was good today, because the motivation was huge — playing against a VTB League team. For the most part, the guys handled it well.

— It seemed very difficult to play against the big men — Kirill Popov and Hunter Dean. Does that match your view?

— Of course. Kryvykh was born in 2006, Kasyanov in 2005, Samukhin in 2004. These are young guys, and for Kasyanov this is his first season in the Super League. Ilya has some experience from last year, but he’s still much less experienced than players at any other position. We’re less experienced than Nizhny. Yes, we had problems under the basket. But sometimes there were issues on offense as well — they play very tough and solid defense.

— How do you approach setting priorities now? Obviously, winning in the Super League is also very important. But with a minimal advantage over a VTB United League opponent, will there be extra focus and preparation specifically for the return leg to secure a win?

— I think this match will have a positive effect on the guys and increase their motivation for our next game against Dynamo Vladivostok. In general, we prepare the same way for every game — both the Cup and the Super League. The ambition of this young team is to play good basketball. That’s what we try to do. You know why this team exists — to develop players for the main squad. We have a couple of very talented boys. This year the roster changed, and our average age is 20. So it’s quite tough, and sometimes we make childish mistakes. Still, we’re currently in 5th-6th place in the Super League together with Dynamo, so things are going okay. I hope that this year we’ll once again make the playoffs.

Forward Egor Evstafiev of Zenit-2 was one of the top scorers in the game against the team from Nizhny Novgorod and shared his impressions of the win.

— The emotions are off the charts, because you don’t play against a VTB League team every day — a team that’s initially stronger. But in fact, we could have won by more. At one point we were probably up by 17 points. I would’ve liked to win by a bigger margin and go to Nizhny with a solid lead, but it is what it is. A win is a win.

— How would you assess your individual performance?

— I don’t know — I scored everything in the first half, and in the second half things didn’t really go my way. But overall, it can be better — it can always be better. I’m very self-critical in that sense.

— What caused such a big swing in the fourth quarter, when you let the opponent get very close?

— Honestly, it’s probably the difference in class. The other team really is stronger, and they stay focused for all 40 minutes. In the third quarter we thought the game was basically over, but it wasn’t. The guys on the other team didn’t stop playing, and because of that we eased off a bit, while they, on the contrary, pushed harder — and it turned into a back-and-forth battle at the end.

— How much did expectations match reality? You were playing a VTB League team, which is stronger, as you said. But for three quarters you had total control. Were you surprised yourselves at how well things were going?

— Honestly, I always go out to play… Nobody steps on the court planning to lose. So I came out fully focused — I never think that we can lose to someone. Today I had exactly the same mindset. When we started leading, of course I was surprised when I saw "+17" on the scoreboard, but overall everything was under control. Emotions definitely took over at some point. But it’s not that I didn’t expect it — I knew it was possible, that we could win.

— How difficult is it to approach a game without proper game rhythm?

— The New Year holidays went well for us. We got back together fairly late, probably around January 3. The first practice was light, we went through one training cycle. I thought things would be worse individually — that I’d run out of breath — but honestly, it was great. The emotions fueled absolutely everyone, so everything was awesome. I really enjoyed it.