CSKA — Lokomotiv Kuban, 07 May 2022

CSKA – Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar: 86-72 (+14)

CSKA: Ware (8 + 3 rb + 9 as + 3 to), Jerebko (6 + 4 pf), Milutinov (11 + 15 rb + 2 as + 2 bs), Kurbanov (4), Shved (21 + 7 rb + 6 as + 5 st + 4 to) – start; Khomenko (0), Freeman (20), Ukhov (0), Antonov (7 + 3 rb + 2 bs + 4 pf), Clyburn (9 + 2 as), Lopatin (DNP), Kolesnikov (0)…

Lokomotiv Kuban: McCollum (18 + 3 rb + 3 to), Motley (14 + 8 rb + 7 as + 2 st + 2 bs + 4 to), Il’nitskiy (14 + 10 rb), Martyuk (2 + 7 rb + 4 pf), Yemchenko (5 + 3 rb + 2 as) – start; Barford (11 + 6 rb), Shcherbenev (3), Kalinov (DNP), Dolinin (0), Paunic (0), Vedishchev (3), Sychkov (2)…

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

Congratulations to the team and the fans. That was a very good games for us, better than Game 1, in terms that when we had the momentum, we kept it, we practically had no lapses and did not allow the opponents to score more than 20 points in each quarter. We moved the ball well and used the gaps that Loko’s defense was giving us when they were focused on guarding Alex, Will and Al. In playoffs the small things turn into big things. Al was a big thing for us today after sitting out two previous games with the extra points that he gave us and with some good defense. Also the opponents had 13 offensive rebound in the first half and, even though we lost on rebound in this game, we beat them in this category in the second half allowing just 4 boards on our glass, we were focused on that part of the game. We just defended our home. This is not the end, and we are expecting a battle on the road. Now we have a vision of how the game looks when we play Loko. We are determined and decisive, we are aware about the competitiveness of our opponent. I would like also to congratulate coach Branko Maksimovic for doing great job, that turns this series into a strategy game.