The presidential basketball club “Astana” was one step away from the first away victory in the VTB United League, but lost to the Saratov «Avtodor” at the end of the game.
It is worth mentioning that Isaiah Whitehead injured the ankle and was unable to join his team in Saratov. This affected the outcome of the match because Isaiah in previous games had proved that he was one of the leaders and was very beneficial to the team.
“Astana” started very well with two exact three-pointers and only after that the hosts were able to open a score. But the players from Saratov did not give in, and they quickly neutralized the advantage of our team, reducing their gap to a minimum, and then evened the score. The Kazakhstan team was in the lead for most of the first quarter, but the team gad spent the last minutes in a bitter struggle, constantly changing each other in the role of leader. Nevertheless, the first 10 minutes ended with the hosts' advantage-
20:19. Our teams had a successful start of the second quarter, who not only took the lead but also pulled away from their rivals. The hosts did everything to stop our team, and they were able to prevent “Astana” from further increasing the advantage. The Kazakhstan team held handicap until the middle of the quarter, and then the wards of Yevgeniy Pashutin reduced the gap to a minimum, and after another two and a half minutes the Saratov team came forward again, and after the first half of the match, they were n the lead by 5 points — 47:42.
Five lag points did not affect the intrigue in the match, which only escalated in such a fight, and in the third ten minutes, the temperature on the court had been only increasing. Now, “Astana” was catching up. After three and a half minutes, the score difference between the teams was 1 point, but our team did not succeed in grasping this chance, and «Avtodor» again made a mini-spurt and regained its advantage of 7 points. The team of Emil Rajkovic, in turn, found a chance to respond. In less than two minutes, the difference again was only 1 point, and in the remaining quarter time, only “Astana” managed to score. 62:65 capital team led after thirty minutes of the game. The fourth quarter promised to be hot, and »Avtodor» only poured oil on flames, leading only by 1 point in the first minute of the fourth quarter. After that, the teams began attempts to “pull the rope to their side”. «Avtodor» constantly took the lead, while «Astana» evened the score. This went in this manner for some time. Three minutes before the end the hosts had an advantage of only 2 points, but our team failed to implement the attack, moreover, they missed a couple of opponents' attacks and in less than 2 minutes the difference was already 7 points. The ending took place in a positional competition, and the coaches willingly used the right to time out. In 9 seconds, “Astana” lost 3 points, but failed to pull away with a victory today, and today the glasses and the court were clearly on the side of the hosts. “Astana” has not yet got the taste of away victory this season, losing to “Avtodor” — 90:85 (
20:19, 27:23,
15:23, 28:20).
After this defeat, “Astana” again has 50% of victories — 3: 3. As for the standings, the competition is so tight that one defeat and “Astana” went down from third to ninth, this was also affected by the parallel games that took place today. The game in Saratov was very difficult, and the fight was very stubborn, it is also worth noting once again the loss of Whitehead before the match due to injury. Well, Dushan Ristic, who was injured in the fourth quarter, in the last minutes was not as effective as before in the game. Nevertheless, defeat is defeat, and «Avtodor» today proved that they needed the victory even more. Let us hope that all injuries are not serious and will not affect further games.
Most productive:
- “Astana” — all eyes were focused today on Coti Clarke, because he played against his former team, in which he was the leader in the 2017/2018 season, and the American player did not disappoint, becoming the most effective in the Kazakhstan team — 26 points and 7 rebounds. Malcolm Hill also scored more than 20 points (22) and at the same time chalked up 6 rebounds and assists. 15 points are in the asset of Dushan Ristic, who also scored 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
- “Avtodor” — our team was able to send Muhammad Wait on the bench before the match ended but by this time he had scored 22 points and 13 rebounds. Also in “Avtodor” Americans, Markel Starks shone out — 20 points, 8 assists, and Isaiah Hicks — 18 points and 9 rebounds.
The head coach of «Avtodor» Evgeniy Pashutin:
- Astana” is a serious team that knows how to keep the rhythm and control the game, which it previously proved in the games with “Loco” and “Zenit”. We were well-prepared, successfully acted in defense against Jeremiah Hill. They didn’t deal with Clarke but immediately decided that it was better to let him play one on one than to give all five Astana guards the opportunity to score from different positions. The defense decided everything. The guys did not spare themselves, fought for the ball did not allow them to score easy balls from under the basket.
Head coach of «Astana» Emil Rajkovic:
- I think the game was very interesting for the audience. We had every chance to finish the match with a victory, but we unsuccessfully played in defense and pick-and-rolls. We experienced a problem associated with a lack of freshness among the leading players because they spent 35-36 minutes on the court. As a result, in crucial minutes, they could not make additional acceleration in order to win. In my opinion, this is the main reason for our defeat. Today we played with just 4 foreign players because Whitehead was absent due to injury.
Next match: «Astana» will hold the next matches at home
on November 19 and 20, the capital basketball players will host «Barsy Atyrau» on their court as part of the National League regular season. The next match of the VTB United League, the wards of Emil Rajkovic will play
on November 25 in Tallinn against the local «Kalev».
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, the schedule and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
