Chess without pawns 28 may 2013
PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban
Lokomotiv-Kuban overcame Lithuanian Zalgiris in the third semifinal match within VTB United League. Krasnodar club committed an efficient spurt at the end and finished the match with the score 82:72. Since now Lokomotiv wants one else win to achieve the final.
Prologue
Loko and Zalgiris proved how well they know weak and strong points of each other and how smart they are able to use their arsenals in the course of struggle. Slashing differences in the score of the previous matches only added unpredictable feature to the coming game. Towards the third game the battle between Evgeny Pashutin and Joan Plaza looked like a knotty chess game.
Play by play
Viscosity at the start of the game became a visit card of meetings between Lokomotiv and Zalgiris. The Lithuanians began with a good rebound of Darjus Lavrinovich and a bad pass of Lafayette. Loko was the first who got a scoreboard moving – Derrick Brown scored two points without hesitation after Calathes’ assist. Gods of arc were kind to both teams tonight – three pointers of Calathes together with Jasaitis from one hand and Lafayette with Delas from the other one led the score to 10:10 after five playing minutes. Jasaitis was especially zealous on the arc as he used to annoy Zalgiris from Lietuvos Rytas times. The Lithuanian forward was not satisfied with a triple and contributed a graceful jump-shot. Javtokas, Kuzminskas and Ksistof Lavrinovic helped Zalgiris to keep up with the fast railwaymen. One else triple of Simas Jasaitis and fast break of Hendrix managed to swing scale to our favour – 25:21 after the first quarter.
No team could occupy the court the second and the third quarter. Neither triples of Popovic and Ksistof Lavrinovic nor game of Javtokas and Kuzminskas nor aggressive defense of slogger Hendrix, nor Calathes’ penetrations helped teams to take the lead that only intensified intrigue. The trump of Joan Plaza – Lavrinovic brothers together on the court caused Lokomotiv a lot of trouble in paint but our guys coped successfully with the obstacles. It was thirty seconds to play the third period when 54:54 was displayed on the scoreboard but Likhodey’s three pointer and efficient steal of Brown made Lokomotiv finish the quarter leading – 59:54.
Upshot
Nick Calathes didn’t leave the guests any chance for the happy end. The Lithuanians didn’t yield and cut 13 points red-green advantage to 6 ones but not for a long. 82:72 – the railwaymen are leading within the semifinal racing.
Match heroes
Nick Calathes, Simas Jasaitis and Valery Likhodey. Shooting trio crushed fighting spirit of Lithuanians. They gained 30 points only with long-range shots.
Match figure
12 efficient assists were made by Nick Calathes who recorded double-double scoring twenty points and finished the game with efficiency 23.
Loko and Zalgiris proved how well they know weak and strong points of each other and how smart they are able to use their arsenals in the course of struggle. Slashing differences in the score of the previous matches only added unpredictable feature to the coming game. Towards the third game the battle between Evgeny Pashutin and Joan Plaza looked like a knotty chess game.
Play by play
Viscosity at the start of the game became a visit card of meetings between Lokomotiv and Zalgiris. The Lithuanians began with a good rebound of Darjus Lavrinovich and a bad pass of Lafayette. Loko was the first who got a scoreboard moving – Derrick Brown scored two points without hesitation after Calathes’ assist. Gods of arc were kind to both teams tonight – three pointers of Calathes together with Jasaitis from one hand and Lafayette with Delas from the other one led the score to 10:10 after five playing minutes. Jasaitis was especially zealous on the arc as he used to annoy Zalgiris from Lietuvos Rytas times. The Lithuanian forward was not satisfied with a triple and contributed a graceful jump-shot. Javtokas, Kuzminskas and Ksistof Lavrinovic helped Zalgiris to keep up with the fast railwaymen. One else triple of Simas Jasaitis and fast break of Hendrix managed to swing scale to our favour – 25:21 after the first quarter.
No team could occupy the court the second and the third quarter. Neither triples of Popovic and Ksistof Lavrinovic nor game of Javtokas and Kuzminskas nor aggressive defense of slogger Hendrix, nor Calathes’ penetrations helped teams to take the lead that only intensified intrigue. The trump of Joan Plaza – Lavrinovic brothers together on the court caused Lokomotiv a lot of trouble in paint but our guys coped successfully with the obstacles. It was thirty seconds to play the third period when 54:54 was displayed on the scoreboard but Likhodey’s three pointer and efficient steal of Brown made Lokomotiv finish the quarter leading – 59:54.
Upshot
Nick Calathes didn’t leave the guests any chance for the happy end. The Lithuanians didn’t yield and cut 13 points red-green advantage to 6 ones but not for a long. 82:72 – the railwaymen are leading within the semifinal racing.
Match heroes
Nick Calathes, Simas Jasaitis and Valery Likhodey. Shooting trio crushed fighting spirit of Lithuanians. They gained 30 points only with long-range shots.
Match figure
12 efficient assists were made by Nick Calathes who recorded double-double scoring twenty points and finished the game with efficiency 23.
Source
http://en.lokobasket.com/news/762381.html
