Kazan and Saint Petersburg will host the Quarterfinals on Monday.
UNICS (Kazan) – PARMA-PARI (Perm)
Comments after Game 1:
Velimir Perasovic, UNICS head coach :
– It was really important to start the Playoffs with a win. If you lose the first game you’re under pressure. It was hard for us psychologically today because we lost the game before. Our confidence wasn’t at the same level as it was in the first stage of the season. But I think we came to the Playoffs prepared. Today UNICS is a good team, playing good basketball. We worked on our mistakes and improved our game.
Evgeny Pashutin, PARMA-PARI head coach:
– It was a tough game. We knew that UNICS played particularly tight at home, but we weren’t ready for it. The hosts managed to disrupt our rhythm. In the first half we were organized defensively and controlled the game. After the halftime, we couldn’t stop UNICS fast breaks. In the second game we’ll try to give our opponent a fighting chance.
Xavier Pascual, Zenit head coach:
– Congratulations to mBA on the win. We controlled the game until the end of the third quarter, for the first 30 minutes. But then we lost control completely and when we were up by 14 we just stopped playing, both on defense and offense. We let MBA to come back and then couldn’t handle the pressure, missed our open shots and had 6 turnovers in the last quarter. You can’t win with that many mistakes. What else can I say? It’s 0-1 and we have to keep playing.
Vasily Karasev, MBA head coach :
– We did what we had to do on defense. I won’t say we had a super offense in the second half, but we didn’t let Zenit score easy shots, stayed in the game and in the end the fortune was on our side.
Of course, we are pleased – the first road game, the first win. But we are well aware that this is one win so far, not a series win. Zenit last year proved it when they trailed 0-2 in the Finals and won. There’s a lot of fighting ahead.
