Today in Samara, the final match of the first stage of the VTB United League for our team took place against the hosts of the court. A decent game kept the intrigue until the last minutes, but, unfortunately, Samara turned out to be stronger in today's meeting. Final score – 78:71 (18:19, 26:19, 17:19, 17:14).
Starting fives:
MINSK: Daniil Kasko, Benjamin-Pavel Dodoo, Darol Hernandez Zinenko, Zach Smith, Uladzislau Blizniuk.
Samara: Ivan Lazarev, James Ennis, Marcos Knight, Jordan Theodore, Vladimir Pichkurov.
Game scenario
Excellent game pace at the start of the meeting was demonstrated by Uladzislau Blizniuk, who in a little more than two minutes of the match loaded two “three-point” shots into the basket of Samara. Minsk residents were able to demonstrate a higher percentage of hits thanks to accurate shots from Zach Smith, Vadzim Stubeda and Daniil Kasko. The quarter ended with our team's advantage of 1 point (18:19).
Despite the fact that Darol Hernandez Zinenko got the first points for his team in the second quarter, Sergey Bazarevich's team were able to increase a slight advantage in the score. Both rivals were not ready to give up the lead and staged a sniper duel. In our team, accurate “three-pointers” were made by Jovan Sljivancanin, Uladzislau Blizniuk, and Daniil Kasko made a spectacular long-range hit in the last second of the quarter. The teams went to the big break with a score of 44:38.
Minsk residents came to the floor charged after a long break and began to increase the pace of the game, demonstrating a desire to gain leadership on the Samaritans' court. Vadzim Tratsiak reduced the double-digit gap (57:49) with three accurate shots from the free throw line. Then, in a quick breakaway, Uladzislau Mikulski reduced the gap in the score with an accurate throw and forced Sergey Bazarevich to take a timeout. The bright duel continued with a scoring run of 4 points from Vlad Mikulski and Vadzim Stubeda, thanks to which the score on the scoreboard became equal – 57:57. The quarter ended with a score of 61:57, leaving the audience with the intrigue of the denouement of the meeting for the final 10 minutes of the game.
Interchange
Offensive blunders of our team at the start of the final quarter allowed Samara to increase the advantage in the score again, but Uladzislau Blizniuk and Jovan Sljivancanin managed to reduce the gap to 3 points with precise hits exactly three minutes before the end of the match. Unfortunately, in the end, the opponent from Samara managed to stand on the home court and win with a score of 78:71.
The most productive:
MINSK: Uladzislau Blizniuk – 17+ 3 REB + 4 AST + 1 STL, Jovan Sljivancanin – 11 + 4 REB + 1 AST, Zach Smith – 6 REB + 1 AST + 2 block.
Samara: Marcos Knight – 20 + 1 REB + 8 AST + 3 STL, Vladimir Pichkurov – 15 + 1 AST + 1 STL, James Ennis – 10 + 9 REB + 1 AST.
MINSK head coach Rostislav Vergun: “The basketball game consists of hundreds of micro-duels and episodes. And eventually the skill of the player comes to the fore. As for the ending: rebounds were lost, losses are optional, somewhere we lost a player who is able to effectively complete the attack. We want to win, we want to demonstrate the best possible basketball every game. But this is the secret and the difference lies: when people with such experience and skill confront you. It's not enough for us to play well. At least 8-9 people should play in quality above average. But for us, this game was above average in quality, as a coach I don't see any problems with motivation. There are guys who really want to play, to prove themselves. But, it is not always possible to direct this desire in the right and effective direction for us.”
On February 1, the 2nd stage of the VTB United League regular season in Pool B will begin for the Minsk team. The opponent in the first match on the road will be “Astana". The starting face-off is at 17:00.