Yevgeny Pashutin: The Most Important Thing is to Learn the Right Lessons

We asked team captain Yevgeny Pashutin to comment on the second game of the semifinal series with Khimki.

We lost the game only in the psychological sphere. We simply underestimated the opponent and let our guard down. The coaches prepared us for the game just like for every other game. There was no talk about letting up. But the team just didn’t respond.

The CSKA fans didn’t actively support the team this time like they normally do...

Home crowd support is important, of course, and there wasn’t enough in the game with Khimki. It seemed like a practice game for the team, as well as for the fans. But I repeat: We are the only ones to blame. At the same time, we’d really like to have support when we play the away game against Khimki.

Did Khimki surprise CSKA?

I don’t think our opponents did anything special to slow our team down. Regarding the way we handled the zone that they played, we were successful against it in the first game and led by 14 at the beginning of the second game when Khimki was playing it. It didn’t present a lot of problems for us.

Maybe you, as the team captain, could be active in pumping up the team from the bench.

To tell the truth, I was practically convinced until the end that the guys would pull out the win. But I repeat: Everyone is at fault. The most important thing to do with this loss is to learn the right lessons, and then a loss like this could be helpful in preparing for the Final Four. We’re going to work.