PASHUTIN, EVGENY
Unics Kazan
"It was a tough game for us, a tied game. Zalgiris is in good shape and we expected that kind of hard game. Our goal was to stop their perimeter players because they are very strong. We managed to stop them and controlled the game much better, with only 7 turnovers, but Paulius Jankunas scored a lot, especially from the beginning, too many easy points inside. Jankunas kept Zalgiris confident, plus we missed rebounds. If you remember, we lost three crucial rebounds in the fourth quarter, when they missed free throws. They took the rebound and had a second chance. When the game is close and goes down to 1 or 2 points difference, 3 rebounds is too much, a huge advantage for Zalgiris. We were focused on that because they play with big guards and power the boards, but we were not able to control the rebounds. We played like a team, together, the guys helped each other. We showed character and went back to the way we played before; Colom, Langford and Parakhouski were in good shape. The guys fought, stayed together and we were a completely different team than we were recently."