The match with "Avtodor" Saratov was the penultimate home match for "Tsmoki-Minsk" in the VTB United League regular season. It is clear that the victory in it was of particular value for the "dragons", because they needed to make a confident step forward in order to return to the playoff zone. Moreover, a few minutes before the start of the game, it became known that Krasnoyarsk "Enisey" lost in Perm, with which Minsk residents are arguing in absentia for a ticket to the knockout round. It turned out to be extremely difficult to do this: the Russian opponent, who occupies a more prestigious fourth position in the standings, put up the strongest resistance, steadfastly survived an unsuccessful segment when he was inferior in the score, and in the decisive minutes worked clearly in attack and with fewer mistakes in defense. Defeat — 64:72 (18:12, 14:16, 11:24, 21:20).
Starting fives
"Tsmoki-Minsk": Uladzislau Blizniuk, Daniil Barysevich, Aliaksei Trastsinetski, Yauheni Beliankou, Darol Hernandez-Zinenko.
"Avtodor: Alexander Gavrilov, Nikita Mikhailovskii, Alexandr Petenev, Anton Kvitkovskikh, Evgeny Minchenko.
Game scenario
At the end of March, "Avtodor" parted with its last legionnaires: Croatian forward Zeljko Shakic and American defender Jaron Johnson will spend the rest of the season at Kazan "UNICS". Thus, Vladislav Konovalov, who replaced Macedonian Emil Raikovich on the bridge, has a squad of exclusively Russian basketball players at his disposal. And in this, the Saratov team has become similar to the Minsk team, where only Belarusians also perform now.
By the way, two important persons of "Tsmoki-Minsk", Aliaksei Trastsinetski and Darol Hernandez-Zinenko, who missed the previous match due to injuries, managed to recover and went to the court to help their partners in the hardest game. After all, no one doubted that she would be exactly like that. Moreover, both basketball players were delegated by the coach to the starting five.
The return of the group of starters to their previous appearance, for sure, gave confidence to our team. From the first minutes, she pulled ahead, perfectly used every opportunity for swift attacks, cleverly designed a positional attack. The leader was Yauheni Beliankou, who scored 8 points in the opening quarter. «Avtodor» mainly responded with twos with the use of center Evgeny Minchenko as the finisher of the attacks, who performed "dunks" several times effectively. In turn, "Tsmoki-Minsk" perfectly managed dagger passes under the shield of "small" guards — Uladzislau Blizniuk and Maksim Karattsou distinguished themselves. The hosts reserved the first quarter for themselves — 18:12.
The short break clearly benefited the guests. Saratov residents began to act much more strictly in defense, while in attack they gave the right to make decisions to the experienced Pavel Sergeev. In addition, the 215-centimeter giant Evgeny Minchenko continued to dominate in the "paint", which was extremely difficult to cope with. In just four minutes, "Avtodor" almost eliminated the backlog — 23:21. And soon Alexander Petenev successfully completed the breakaway and scored a bonus penalty, which allowed the guests to equalize the chances — 26:26.
And here Andrei Stabrouski came to the forefront. Two of his long-range hits from behind the arc (one from a difficult situation) literally breathed confidence into the partners. Hernandez-Zinenko bustled into the enemy zone in time: Darol robbed Nikita Mikhailovsky who was gawking and effectively threw him from above. And at the end of the half, Tsimafei Paraliou forced himself to foul himself — it's a pity, he realized only one penalty. The "dragons" took 4 points of advantage to the locker room — 32:28. Some indicators of the technical protocol looked pleasant for them. So, Minsk residents, thanks to the mosquito's care, made 8 interceptions ("Avtodor" — 2), and this contributed to the fact that the opponents allowed 11 ball losses ("Tsmoki-Minsk" — 2).
Unfortunately, the beginning of the second half did not work out for our team at all. Recognized sniper Pavel Sergeev unexpectedly staged a three-point performance — he scored three of three long-range shots. And the difference in the score instantly swung in the direction of "Avtodor" - 37:45. Alas, it was impossible to cope with Evgeny Minchenko, who conscientiously worked out from behind (he became the author of four block shots), and in the attack, responding with pleasure to the partners' offer to make a "alley-oop". The third period "Tsmoki-Minsk" lost - 11:24. And it became alarming.
The "dragons'" anxious state was slightly dispelled in the opening of the final ten minutes: their rapid 6:0 spurt forced Vladislav Konovalov to request a timeout. The admonition of the wards had an effect — returning to the parquet, his wards responded with scoring run of 7:0, regaining the advantage of "+10".
Interchange
5.34 before the final siren Uladzislau Blizniuk cunningly earned three penalties when executing a long shot. There was a convenient chance to catch up to the opponent, but the defender smeared two of the three shots from the line. Tsimafei Paraliou did not help out the partner either: he technically threw from under the shield, but did not realize the bonus penalty. The poor execution of them by our basketball players (6 out of 11) actually deprived the team of the opportunity to return to the game. "Avtodor" regularly completed its own attacks and competently killed time in the end.
The most productive
"Tsmoki-Minsk": Andrei Stabrouski — 19 + 2 REB + 1 AST + 1 STL, Uladzislau Blizniuk — 14 + 4 REB + 4 AST, Yauheni Beliankou — 10 + 6 REB + 3 AST + 2 STL, Darol Hernandez-Zinenko — 7 + 10 REB + 4 STL + 1 AST.
Avtodor: Evgeny Minchenko — 17 + 10 REB+ 2 AST + 4 BLOCK + 1 STL, Pavel Sergeev — 16 + 2 REB + 3 AST, Anton Kvitkovskikh — 15 + 7 REB + 2 AST + 1 STL + 1 BLOCK, Nikita Mikhailovsky — 7 + 12 REB + 5 AST + 3 STL.
Rostislav Vergun, Head coach of "Tsmoki-Minsk"
— Thank you to all those who organized this holiday. We had a super opportunity to make children fall in love with basketball by showing our best game. I have to admit that this did not happen. There is such a thing as responsibility. The value of a player is that under the pressure of responsibility he can show his best qualities. When you lose twenty points and play well, relaxed, it does not prove that you have made a step in your own development. And in a game like today, there was a great opportunity for the leaders to prove themselves. It seems to me that we did not succeed. Thanks to the fans for their support. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to show our best basketball. The result is natural, the opponent outplayed us in almost all the main components. Maybe because the atmosphere is a little unusual for us, maybe we were overexcited. I don't want to look for excuses. We will prepare for the next game. We will try to spend it better than today.
Next game
The next match of the VTB United League "Tsmoki-Minsk" will be held away: on Thursday, March 31, in Perm, they will fight with "PARMA-PARIBET". The meeting will take place in the hall of the USP "Molot" and will begin at 17.30 Belarusian time.