2020-21QuarterfinalsGame 2
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar 86
UNICS Kazan 74
March 25, 2021 CET: 17:00
Local time: 19:00 BASKET HALL

Lokomotiv rolls over UNICS to force Game 3

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar enjoyed an outstanding night from its guards in defeating UNICS Kazan 86-74 on Thursday night at Basket Hall Krasnodar. The victory tied their best-of-three 7DAYS EuroCup Quarterfinals series at 1-1 and forced a decisive Game 3 in Kazan next week. Nigel Williams-Goss was perfect on 4 shots from downtown in amassing 25 points, 4 assists and 4 steals, while Mantas Kalnietis went for a career-high 23 points plus 10 assists. Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored 15 before fouling out late. Jamar Smith paced UNICS with 20 points, Okaro White added 13 points, John Brown posted 11 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks and John Holland also scored 11 in defeat.

The game started with a turnover at each end before Lokomotiv got the first points via a Kalnietis-to-Drew Gordon alley-oop. White netted UNICS's first basket. A Kalnietis jumper gave the hosts a 9-8 edge midway through the first quarter. That basket keyed what became an 11-0 run that Andrei Martiuk capped with a put-back, which promoted a UNICS timeout. UNICS came right back with successive threes by Holland, White and Smith for a 15-17 edge. After Lokomotiv regained the lead, a triple by Isaiah Canaan made it 19-20 for UNICS after 10 minutes. Williams-Goss opened the second quarter with a three and Drew Gordon converted a three-point play as Lokomotiv surged ahead. Kevin Hervey's slam and a Kalnietis three made it 32-25 midway through the second quarter. Kalnietis added a basket-plus-foul for a double-digit lead. By the time Kuzminskas made free throws, Lokomotiv had reeled off 12 straight points while keeping UNICS scoreless for 4 minutes. Smith ended the drought with a three, but Williams-Goss scored twice to send Lokomotiv into halftime leading 45-31.

Williams-Goss and Kalnietis combined for the first 5 points of the second half before Holland answered with a three for UNICS. Williams-Goss's next three – his third of the night – took the margin into the 20s. A pair of baskets by Smith did little to change the momentum as the Lokomotiv margin remained close to 20 points, though a three by Georgy Zhbanov and a score by Smith trimmed the gap to 67-51 through three quarters. UNICS came out for the fourth quarter with a vengeance and after a put-back by Artem Klimenko and a three by Smith, the difference was only 9. Smith's next triple made it 69-61. Kuzminskas and Williams-Goss sandwiched threes around one from Canaan before Gordon scored inside to make it 77-64 with 4 minutes remaining. Kuzminskas sank 4 free throws to help Lokomotiv remain in control and Kalnietis and Williams-Goss iced the game from the line.

Pivotal player

Mantas Kalnietis recorded his third double-double of the season in scoring a EuroCup career-high 23 points to keep Lokomotiv's season alive. The 34-year-old guard made 5 of 9 two-pointers, shot 2 for 4 from downtown and made 7 of 8 free throws. He added 10 assists and 2 steals and drew 5 fouls while committing 3 turnovers for a PIR of 29.

Game-changing play

Kalnietis's three-point play with 3:30 remaining was the highlight of a 12-0 Lokomotiv run that saw the lead reach 41-25. Kalnietis started the run with a three and also added an assist. His basket-plus-foul gave the hosts their first double-digit lead and Lokomotiv remained in control the rest of the night.

EuroCup milestones

Kalnietis's 10 assists took him into seventh place on the EuroCup all-time charts with 338. He moved past former UNICS player Marko Popovic. Mike Green sits in sixth place with 350 career assists. Jamar Smith also made history by becoming the first player in competition history with 250 career three-pointers. He made 4 shots from downtown and now has 253 in his career.

What's next?

The series now moves to Kazan, Russia, where UNCIS will host Game 3 on Wednesday, March 31 in a win-or-go-home situation.

Mantas Kalnietis - Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar (photo Lokomotiv - Fedor Aebor) - EC20
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; OBRKNEZEVIC, UROS ; CICI, GENTIAN
Attendance: 1485
By Quarter1234
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar19262219
UNICS Kazan20112023
End of Quarter1234
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar19456786
UNICS Kazan20315174
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WILLIAMS-GOSS, NIGEL 33:01 25 5/10 4/4 3/4   2 2 4 4     1 2 2 28
3 CUMMINGS, WILL 11:53 4 1/2   2/2 1 1 2 1 1 1       2 8
5 HERVEY, KEVIN 30:45 6 2/4   2/2 1 6 7 1   4 2   4 2 8
6 MOTOVILOV, GRIGORY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 KALNIETIS, MANTAS 35:42 23 5/9 2/4 7/8       10 2 3   1   5 29
18 KALINOV, VALERII DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS 31:51 15 1/4 2/4 7/8 1 1 2 1   1 1 1 5 9 15
22 LYNCH, REGGIE 14:55 2 1/3       4 4 1   1 1 1 4    
23 DOLININ, SERGEI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
25 MARTIUK, ANDREI 5:41 2 1/1 0/1   1 1 2     1     1   1
32 GORDON, DREW 25:05 9 4/7   1/1   7 7 2   3     3 5 14
35 EMCHENKO, VLADISLAV 11:07   0/1 0/1     2 2   1       3   -2
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 86 20/41 8/14 22/25 6 26 32 20 8 14 4 4 22 25 105
        48.8% 57.1% 88%
Head coach: PASHUTIN, EVGENY
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
UNICS Kazan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
00 BROWN, JOHN 25:53 11 2/6 0/2 7/8 6 5 11 3 2 2 2 1 3 5 21
3 CANAAN, ISAIAH 19:04 8 0/4 2/8 2/2 1 1 2 2   3   1 4 4 -2
6 ZHBANOV, GEORGY 13:28 5   1/1 2/3 1   1   1       4 1 3
9 WHITE, OKARO 26:34 13 4/12 1/3 2/3 3 3 6   2 2   1 2 4 9
10 SERGEEV, PAVEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 KLIMENKO, ARTEM 9:49 4 1/1   2/2 2   2 1     1     3 11
13 UZINSKII, DMITRII 9:36     0/5                   2   -7
15 SMITH, JAMAR 32:40 20 4/9 4/4     2 2 2 2 3     4   14
19 MORGAN, JORDAN 17:44 2 1/3     2 5 7 1   3 1 1   1 6
23 HOLLAND, JOHN 27:35 11 1/2 2/6 3/3 1 2 3 1   2     3 3 8
25 THEODORE, JORDAN 11:22   0/1 0/1     1 1     1       1 -1
42 KOLESNIKOV, EVGENY 6:15           1 1   1       3   -1
Team           2 3 5     1         4
Totals 200:00 74 13/38 10/30 18/21 18 23 41 10 8 17 4 4 25 22 65
        34.2% 33.3% 85.7%
Head coach: PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS

Head Coaches

PASHUTIN, EVGENY
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
"First of all, I’d like to congratulate our team. We fought today. We showed character. We played much better defense and controlled the game much better on offense. That is not easy because has a team of shooters and also they dominate in the rebounds, generally, not today. We decided to try to contest all their shots on the perimeter because they scored 19 in the first game. Today it was 10. Okay, it's a 9 three-point shots difference, but in this case, we just opened the area for the offensive rebounds, to control the rebound situations and still contest their shots. It’s the playoffs. We fought. Thanks to the crowd and all the organization. We prepare to go there, to fight, give the maximum effort, physicality, athleticism, mind, smarts and to win this series and go to the next round."
PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS
UNICS Kazan
"Congratulations to Loko. They played good. They had a solid game. They played physical. It is obvious that we had a terrible second quarter. It was the difference in the game. After this terrible second quarter in which we lost contact with the score, we started to help ourselves with some defensive tactics to create a little bit of a mess in the game. We approached the game, but still, Loko found some open shots and they punished us. We definitely had a good third and four quarter, but the second quarter was so bad that we let them build confidence in the rhythm, so it was very difficult for us. We should be better shooting; we were very bad shooting today. So we go to the third game."

Players

KALNIETIS, MANTAS
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
"After we lost the last game, the most important thing was to respond to their physicality. I think we made some adjustments on defense, but the main [reason] why we won was desire."
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