«Astana» lost to the silver medalist of VTB League

01.04.2018, 23:00    Views: 599
Source: Press service
Author: Almira Shakhaeva
The capital basketball club lost on the road to the team «Lokomotiv-Kuban» from Krasnodar with a score of 79:78. It is just that some kind of magic of numbers, which has been following «Astana» for the second time on the road. The game against «Nizhny Novgorod» also ended with exactly this score.

The team from Krasnodar is one of the best teams in Europe, so no one promised a simple game. But, despite the titles of the opponent, the team of Mikhail Karpenko demonstrated a good game and made his opponent really nervous.

From the very beginning, «Astana» staked on a fast-paced game, which overall was quite successful. In their turn, the hosts did not want to hurry and were composed and disimpassioned trough this part of the game. Long-range shots were the Astana's second bet, although they managed to score the first three-pointer only with the sixth attempt, though the rival obviously underestimated the shooting skills of Kazakh guests. As a result, «Astana» scored 13 of 29 long distance shots.

The second part of the «Krasnodar madness» was especially tense. In the final quarter, «Astana» began to attack the glass of Krasnodar with long distance throws, and managed to achieve a maximum accuracy of 7/10, 6 of them in a row. Nevertheless, the hosts had control of the game. The result of the game was decided in the last 8 seconds when the hosts put all their efforts and remaining power were thrown to the defense. With the buzzer, the match ended with a score of 79:78 in favor of «Lokomotiv-Kuban».

The most productive player of the game was Justin Carter, who scored 26 points, Malcolm Grant had 19 points.

Commentary of the head coach of BC «Astana» Mikhail Karpenko:
- We did not succeed today. We were ready, that «Loco» would play contact. They were successful in it when we gained points only in the individual game. We did not have it the first half, but, what is important, we continued to keep up even when the opponent was leading 15-16 points. But it was enough to complete three defenses, three successful possessions, and we had chances for a good ending. We began to move the ball better, created moments for shooting guards. Having the last possession we still could not bring the game to victory. I believe that we could win this match.
The next match «Astana» will be held on April 8 on the road with «Yenisey» from Krasnoyarsk.
Astana will host the following matches on its court on April 4 and 5, «Astana» will receive the basketball club «Caspian» within the framework of the 1/2 finals of the Kazakhstan Championship among the men's teams of the National League.

The next match within the framework of the VTB United League will also be held on the road, on April 8, «Astana» will go to Krasnoyarsk, where they will play with the «Yenisey».


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