The match between «Astana» basketball club and «Lokomotiv-Kuban» team ended in Krasnodar.
The hosts opened the score, and Jeffrey Grosell, the center of Astana, responded with two points right away. The first period was rather calm, each team scanned each other, though the hosts felt more confident. Only at the end of the first quarter, «Astana» players caught up with the rival in the score 17:17, and «Loko» coach Vlada Jovanovic asked for a time-out. The first period ended with a minimum gap of 22:19 in favor of Krasnodar.
The second quarter began more actively than the previous one. The home team aggressively began the period, and also demonstrated fast basketball. Each attack of Krasnodar was effective, while the capital team still could not get ahead. The turning point was two effective triple from the shooter of the Russian national team Vitaliy Fridzon, with which the opponent secured a comfortable advantage of +10 points (33:23). Although with each new attack, «Astana» caught up with the opponents, though Krasnodar still chased the lead. The first half of the match ended with a score of 42:36 in favor of «Loko».
However, after a long break, «Astana» began to catch up and continued to play at a fighting pace. The positive attitude of the team was felt in every attack. By the middle of the period, Astana players took the lead. A number of successful combinations and awkward losses of the opponent allowed «Astana» to gain a comfortable advantage, 56:58 in the third period.
The final quarter became the most intense. The capital team under the guidance of Emil Raikovich felt a second wind. «Astana» controlled the game for the entire period and did not allow the opponent to catch up. The turning point was when Kazakhstan team pulled away from Loko by scoring + 10 points (64:74). The red-and-green team, on the contrary, missed the shots. As a result, the match ended with the victory of “Astana” with a score of 71:90. All the team showed strong character, having won another victory.
The capital basketball club has once again proved to the top-level teams that it is a competitive and strong-willed team capable of having bright victories. Congratulations to the team of Emil Rajkovic with a spectacular victory!
The top scorers:
«Astana» head coach Emil Raykovich:»
- It has been a very difficult game. Of course, Lokomotiv was a favorite. In the first half, we tried to maintain the pace, despite our short rotation. They varied the defensive schemes and controlled the pace of the game. After a long break, we began to felt more confident in ourselves and play more aggressively. In the end, it paid off. For us, this is a very important victory, which has shown that «Astana» is moving in the right direction. I am glad that the guys did not focus on the individual statistics, but did everything to win.
«Lokomotiv-Kuban» head coach Vlada Jovanovic:
- The preparation for the game was very difficult because of the FIBA window. We had to work with five players, without 7 players of the main roster. «Astana» is a strong team, which is doing well in the season. We were looking for our pace in attack and defense, but in the first half, we could not pull away from our rival. In the third and fourth quarters, we faced a lot of problems, lost a lot of shots, for which we had to fight. In addition, Astana made 51 rebounds, which is quite a lot. Bad game. But we must not give up, because after a few days we have an important match with “Cedevita.
The team will hold the next matches on its court, on December 11 and 12, «Astana» players will host the Aktau basketball club «Caspian» within the framework of the Kazakhstan Championship among men's teams of the National League.
The next match of the VTB United League Astana will also be held at home, on December 16; the capital basketball players will host Estonian «Kalev».
The detailed information about tournaments, tournament tables, the schedule and match results are published in the Tournaments section.
 «Samruk-Kazyna» National Welfare Fund |
 Uniform operator «Tourism Industry and Sports Support Fund» |
