Andrey Vorontsevich: "Despite all the mistakes, we looked pretty good"

Zenit forward Andrey Vorontsevich answered questions from journalists after the sixth game of the VTB United League playoff semifinals, in which the Blue-White-Sky Blues lost to UNICS (73:78). The series score is now 3-3.

— We wanted to win, but we lost. Congratulations to UNICS. I think we gave it away ourselves. Even when we had the lead, we made too many turnovers, way too many. Despite all the shortcomings and turnovers, we lost by only 5 points. But it's always hard to talk after a loss, especially on your home court. We'll work on our mistakes and start preparing right now for Game 7 in Kazan.

— You were one of the best players on the team today. You had a great three-point percentage — 3 out of 4. With 25 seconds left, the score was 73:75. You checked something with the coach regarding the play. Tell me, was that final play actually designed for Roberson? Or did the situation just unfold that way — he was open and took the shot? Or should you, with your excellent percentage, have been the one to take it?

— Thank you for the question, it's a good question. Let me start by saying that it doesn't matter how well you played individually — if your team lost, even if you played great and made all your shots. The team loses, and that cancels everything out. But the play wasn't designed for anyone specific — it was just a set play, and it turned out that the opponent had been helping off Roberson all game, while we were helping off Belenitsky. They also often help off Zhora Zhbanov. So we trust our guys — both Roberson and Zhbanov. And, naturally, Andre was open, and since we trust him, he shot.

So we definitely need to review the situation and see what other options might have been available. But a guy was standing there wide open, and he had already made a three-pointer today, so we trust our teammates. And, naturally, what else could we do? Believe in his shot.

— Andrey, I remember you playing the center position for the Russian national team. Today you had to play center against a real "Kazan wall". How difficult was that? How hard was it to compete on the boards, both offensively and defensively, against the guys from Kazan?

— I'm a pretty good wall myself (smiles). So, no, today I also played the four, the power forward position. Andre Roberson played the five for us today. But we are all mobile players — we switch positions. And naturally, all the guys on UNICS Kazan are active players, no matter how they look. From the outside, they seem bigger, but they are not bigger than us, not stronger than us, and we know how to play against them. So we step onto the court without any fear or doubt. Try to beat us — it's not that easy to beat us. But today I can say that despite all the mistakes — and I repeat — we looked pretty good.