Lokomotiv-Kuban — BC Khimki — 93-78 (22-24, 24-20, 29-19, 18-15)

BC Khimki: Shved (18 + 6 assists), Anderson (16), Markovic (11 + 3 rebounds + 2 steals), Honeycutt (11 + 3 rebounds), Thomas (9 + 5 rebounds), Gill (7 + 4 rebounds), Jenkins (2), Monya (2), Zubkov (2), Vyaltsev.

POST-GAME

Georgios Bartzokas, BC Khimki head coach:

“First of all, I would like to congratulate Loko on this win. They are a tough team and play like this all year; they have a good roster and good direction from the coaches. We expected a very difficult game today, especially under the circumstances that we had a game on Tuesday in Belgrade and on Thursday against Olympiacos. We spend a lot of mental effort and energy to win this kind of games. So, it was really tough to play third demanding game at this high level in five days. It was obvious in the second half we missed our energy and concentration. Our rhythm was cooling down, and finally Loko won because they deserved it. Let's move forward, let's se next games”.

“First of all, rebounding was the main reason why we lost this game. We knew that they are averaging 12 offensive rebounds per game and we prepared for this. But whatever had action or reaction on this. We are still missing a lot of offensive rebounds, [giving opponents] second chances. They scored 25 points from offensive rebounds. I don't believe that the absence of Robinson can be an excuse for us as he is our best rebounder. We cannot say things like this. We need team effort; we need everybody's contribution and we didn't have energy, probably to fight for the ball and possession like Loko did”.

“This is emotional time for me. I love Loko, and two years ago we had a great season, achieving the EuroLeague Final Four. Knowing now, how difficult is to play in the EuroLeague, it's so difficult for Krasnodar traveling and flying two hours to Moscow and then taking one more flight. I know, how difficult it was. It was a big accomplishment from all the club, what we did two years ago. I will always remember and have great emotions about the club and the fans. Today I saw some Greek flags behind me. A lot of friends who are supporting the club and I felt emotional because of this. At the same time, it wasn't fair what happened with the commentator of the club, and I would like to tell you this. It was a banner in Greek language “What is the weather in Barcelona?”, that it was well prepared not by the fans. Second, it was a Greek song prepared for me before the game and the commentator was speaking Greek language. At the end of the game he said again in Greek, Goodbye, mr. Bartzokas. Let me tell you something. This is so ironic to me, this is not fair, this is not sports. We, altogether here, achieved the Final Four two years ago. Not me, but everyone in the club. So, if the club officially decided to treat me like this, this is not my problem, but club's problem. I will always love Loko. Everybody knows that I decided to leave because I couldn't have my family in Krasnodar. Everybody knows, the club took from me 540000 euros that means I worked for free here and they took more. So, what I expected from the club is just respect, nothing more. About the fans, all the great emotions, about the club, I will always remember the best, just this”.

“Loko has only one loss and of course, they deserve [top place in the standings]. In the VTB League there are five very strong teams and the level of the competition is very difficult this year. But, especially with the new format of the EuroLeague, it's very difficult for the teams. You can see that all EuroLeague teams are losing a lot of games in domestic leagues. We know, we gonna lose many games. We won three out of four our last EuroLeague games, I mean in Bamberg, in Belgrade with Crvena Zvezda and in Mytishchi with Olympiacos. We lost only to Real Madrid. At the same time, we lost to Kalev. We know that this effort in the EuroLeague is really difficult as you spend a lot of energy both mental and physical. We expect when we finish our Euroleague qualifications, we'll focus on VTB League, because right now it is really difficult”.