Alexander Shcherbenev: "The team made the most pleasant gift"

The blue-whites guard Alexander Shcherbenev shared his thoughts on what it was like to play on his birthday and evaluated the game against PARMA (100:56).

— Have you played on your birthday before? Also, what are your thoughts on the game? In the first quarter, there was some resistance from PARMA, but then the blue-whites took full control.

— Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ve played on my birthday before. But, of course, it feels great, especially with a result like this and that we won. The team made the most pleasant gift. We took the game seriously because we understood that PARMA could be a very tricky opponent and surprise us. So we didn’t underestimate them, thoroughly analyzed them and approached the game seriously.

— In the first quarter, PARMA’s defense played well, forcing Zenit to take shots in the final seconds. How did you manage to adjust your offense after that?

— We recognized that and made some adjustments on offense. Everyone on the team started feeling the game, and everyone scored.

— In the final quarter Andrey Vorontsevich gave you a lot of advice during free throws. Would you say he is becoming more of a player-coach?

— He definitely has enough experience to be a coach. It's a pleasure to have the opportunity to play with such a wise player and learn from him. He gives me tips, and I listen carefully. The most important thing is that Andrey is still an outstanding player. I’m sure he’ll help us a lot.