Defeat in Samara

«Astana» played its second away match of the United VTB League, losing to «Samara».

The game ended with a score of 84:63, with Markell Johnson (14 points, 5 assists) and Royce Hamm (12 points, 8 rebounds) being the standout players in the Kazakhstani team.

«I congratulate our team. Three quarters went very well. But a serious team cannot play like that in the second quarter. And I know why it happened. Yesterday, Kulagin had his first training session in three weeks, Platonov had his first session after the MBA match, Umrikhin didn't train yesterday, Zagorac is back after an injury… Maintaining consistency throughout a forty-minute game is challenging when the team's physical fitness levels vary. However, I'm happy with our performance in the other three quarters. That level of play is what we should aim for during the whole match! We needed to reset mentally during the long break. In the first quarter, we managed to avoid any turnovers, yet in the second, we had six. Playing amidst such frequent errors is challenging, as it disrupted our game's flow entirely. But by the third quarter, the team regained focus,« summarized the game coach of the opponent, Dražen Anzulović.

Astana's next match will be on March 18 against «Runa» in Moscow.

Reminder: our team will play in Almaty on March 21 and 24! Tickets can be purchased on Ticketon.