Dejan Radonjić: "Every point was important in the last minutes"
Zenit head coach Dejan Radonjić summed up the fourth game of the VTB United League semifinals against UNICS (81:77). Thanks to the home win, the Blue-White-Sky Blues lead the series 3-1.
— . I can say the first half was pretty good but in the third quarter it was 10 minutes with so many mistakes. Both sides —defensively, offensively they play really good. In the end it was one possession game. It was good focus in last few minutes and now we need to start to think about next game. It was a very tough game, for sure, but this is a playoff. Series is a tough, such a good team, so we need to be ready for the next game.
— Was UNICS's performance in the third quarter a surprise to you?
— First of all, all of you know that UNICS is a great team, so it's not easy to play against them. It's a very experienced team, very good roster, coach, everything, you know. So it's not easy to play all 40 minutes. So they did a great job in that third quarter. As I told you, a lot of mistakes defensively, offensively we did, but in the end, what was the most important thing in this series is to win.
We played against them so many games, you know, and then if you analyze every game, I saw everything, so... Defensively, offensively, from their side, so we know each other quite well. Today they did defensively in third quarter more switch than some last games.
— Why did Zenit rely on three-point shots at the end of the game?
— Every point was important in the last minutes today. It was very important, not only these three points shot. We followed the game, I followed the game and decision was because of what we had on the court who is on the court, result and then to decide what to do. Focus was of course on three points because we had three points of advantage. I told you in the beginning our focus was very good last few minutes in that case. 3-1 is now and then we need to be ready to continue.
— The next game is in Kazan. How do you maintain focus and get the win to advance to the finals?
— We need to do everything to keep our focus. It's a long series. All the games were very tough — a lot of energy from both sides, a lot of everything. I think the games were good, and I think the next game will also be tough. So we need to do everything possible to be ready for the game. First of all, the first game — then we can think about something else, of course.
— Did you have any special words for the team to get back into the game after the opponent's run? And a second question about Bako. Can we count on him for the rest of this series?
— To be honest, this game was not easy, you know. Some periods we were very good, some not that good. But as I told you, the opponent in front of us is such a good team, so it's not easy to play all the time at the same level, because they play really well, especially, as I told you, in the third quarter. So it was very important to stay focused and to do some things on the court to change the momentum, because they were very close to changing it. You know, in the last 10 minutes, in the end, it was a one-possession game. But this is the playoffs — during the playoffs, you can see this or that. You know, there are so many games between each other in a short time. We'll see how it goes in the next game, but that's my opinion.
So about Bako, we'll see. In this schedule, to be precise about when he can play, it's not easy. He didn't practice 5-on-5. His last game was the Uralmash game, the first Uralmash game, 20 days ago. So we'll see. And also, this back problem is very sensitive. But our schedule — in two days, we'll go there to play again, so we'll see day by day, like I said after the last game.
