We miss the victory over Parma, but we keep the lead in the standings

Main team news

30.03.2024

BC UNICS, drained of blood due to injuries by the absence of three potential players of the starting five at once, owned the initiative for 3 starting quarters. However, in the opening of the 4th quarter, the white-greens missed the guests' 12:0 spurt and suffered a home defeat from Parma in a tense ending – 86:89.

Both teams demonstrated fast and spectacular basketball with 15 lead changes and 9 score equalities. The first half the hosts won and showed a high percentage of hits and went on a long break with a 7-point handicap (56:49). Before the final ten minutes, Parma reduced the gap to «-4» (69:65), and the guests' 12:0 spurt at the start of the 4th quarter allowed them to change the balance of power on the floor - 69:77 maximum «+8 » for the Urals.

With the support of the home stands, Kazan managed to get back into the game – 81:81 2:45 before the final siren. But, unfortunately, our opponents turned out to be more accurate and more successful in the decisive segment of the match. Despite the loss, the Tatarstan club retained its leadership in the VTB United League standings.

Louis LABEYRIE (19 + 4 rebounds) and Erick GREEN (17 + 5 rebounds) became the most productive in the UNICS team. Jalen REYNOLDS and Ismael BAKO combined for 26 points and 15 rebounds. Neno DIMITRIJEVIC scored 12 points and 8 assists.

UNICS (Kazan) – Parma (Perm) – 86:89 (25:21, 31:28, 13:16, 17:24).
UNICS: Labeyrie (19 + 4 rebounds + 2 assists), Green (17 + 5 rebounds + 2 assists), Reynolds (13 + 8 rebounds + 3 steals), Bako (13 + 7 rebounds), Dimitrijevic (12 + 8 assists).
Parma: Reese (20 + 4 rebounds + 4 assists), Bryce (18 + 4 assists), Johnson (18 + 7 rebounds + 2 assists + 2 steals), Solomon (16 + 7 rebounds + 2 assists), Platunov (9 + 2 assists).

Velimir Perasovic's team will play the next match on April 5 in St. Petersburg against Zenit.

POST-MATCH COMMENTARY:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«Congratulations to Parma. Our opponents have been playing good basketball throughout the season. It is always very difficult to play against them. Unfortunately for us, the visitors played better in the last quarter and won.

According to the results of the first half, we won only «+7», and not «+25» – due to the fact that we defended badly. So I don't think we played well. I told the team: if you think that we are able to beat the opponent only by attacking, then we will lose. That's what happened.

We expected that we would continue to hit the same way in the second half. In the beginning, we were able to make difficult throws, but then the attack went wrong. Parma, on the contrary, had a lot of variations in attack, they implemented a lot of one-on-one isolations.

I will say that in the first half we only attacked well, but in general we did not play well. From a defensive point of view, we played a bad game».