"The first quarter wasn’t anything like we had agreed upon": Popovic and Aksenov on the victory in Krasnodar
The head coach of Zenit-2, Oliver Popovic, summed up the match against SSOR Lokomotiv Kuban (85:90):
— Two young and promising teams. Both we and they have 1–2 experienced players each. We started very poorly on defense, soft, very soft, and conceded 29 points in the first quarter. That’s way too many. But in the third and fourth quarters, and even in the second, we played normally. So today, it could have gone either way. Krasnodar could’ve won, or we could’ve won. But it turned out that we managed to secure the victory.
— If it’s not a secret, what did you tell the team during halftime?
— It’s simple: the first quarter wasn’t anything like we had agreed upon. Not even close in terms of defense. We made some slight adjustments on defense and achieved a good result. Today, our free throws were very poor. It’s something we just need to work on psychologically.
Zenit’s guard Daniil Aksenov also shared his emotions after the victory over the Krasnodar team. In this game player scored 18 points and made 5 assists.
— The match ended positively for us — we secured a win. I want to express my great respect for the opposing team because their current standing in the tournament doesn’t reflect their actual level of play. They played very well, and if you look at it overall, they’re quite a solid team. It’s pretty challenging to play against them. Our task was to hold onto first place and bring back two wins from this road trip. We accomplished that, so everyone is very happy and excited.
— What would you say was the key moment today?
— I think it was the fourth quarter when we defended well and got out in transition. Probably my tough three-pointer from a 45-degree angle and a drive to the basket. But that’s just one moment. Also, Pasha Zemskiy managed to make at least a few free throws. Unfortunately, free throws are our team’s Achilles' heel. But he still did a great job, overcame his nerves, and made at least one out of two.
