Lokomotiv Kuban came from behind to seal a narrow 66-61 home win over Barcelona in game one of the Euroleague, quarter-final Playoff encounter.
The Russian side, trailing for the majority had to rely on their trademark defence that has led them to this point, as they held the Catalan side to just eight points in the final frame.
Barcelona was held scoreless in the final four minutes as Chris Singleton, Malcolm Delaney and Dontaye Draper fueled a final 8-0 push, which Ryan Broekhoff capped with a dunk to give Lokomotiv the lead in the series.
“I think it was a good game,” said Kuban’s Anthony Randolph, who led the winners with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
“Both teams came out to play and it was a tough defensive game. We were lucky we got stops towards the end of the game and made some big shots. Basketball is a game of runs and ups and downs. All that matters is that when the final buzzer sounds, who wins the game. I think they have a lot of pressure on them and all we have to do is keep playing basketball.”
LABORAL KUTXA TAKE FIRST GAME FROM PANATHINAIKOS
Laboral Kutxa pulled clear in the second quarter and never let Panathinaikos back in as the Liga Endesa side recorded a convincing 84-68 success in game one.
Leading 18-16 after one, Jaka Blazic inspired a strong push by Laboral Kutxa to give them a double-digit lead that grew larger as the game wore on.
Darius Adams paced the winners with 20 points.
“I think it was a game in which we put a lot of energy, but it’s also true that they were not as accurate as they usually are,” said Laboral Kutxa coach Velimir Perasovic. We won showing courage, especially in the second quarter when we got the lead and started believing we could win this game.
“We had a more or less comfortable end of the game, but I’m sure that it won’t be that way on Friday. We played a good game, and they didn’t. We played well in defence, we rebounded well, played intense and we managed to control the turnovers after a bad moment in the first quarter. Aggressiveness and intensity were key tonight, and helped us a lot.”
The four sides meet for game two on Friday.
