Well, here we are in the Eurocup Quarterfinals! We had a pretty good first eighthfinals game against Zenit St. Petersburg, won it by 26 points, and then kept it safe in Game 2. It was a bit surprising to see that we had such an easy home win. We were prepared for a harder, tougher game, but luckily we had a great performance. We made a lot of shots and everyone contributed. We caught Zenit on a bad day and it was a great feeling to win by so many points. We went to St. Petersburg already with one foot in the quarterfinals. Ivan Strebkov played an incredible game at home for us. Strebkov is a tricky player, very talented offensively and had a great day against Zenit. He has also been playing well in VTB League games, feeling more and more confident as the season goes on. On a good day, a shooter like him can score a lot, and I think he had 21 points against Zenit. He played an unbelievable game and this is what we need – everyone to contribute. Our game is more oriented to outside players and shooters. It is very important that everyone makes shots.
We went to St. Petersburg and lost by 16 but we kept full control of the series at all times. We did what we had to do in St. Petersburg to advance to the next round. It is actually hard to play a game when you have a 26-point cushion and I think this is why we competed a little bit under our level. Our mindset was that the series was over and in the end, we were right and advanced. We made mistakes and lost the game but achieved the main goal, making it to the next round.
We keep travelling a lot so I keep watching a lot of science fiction series like Flash, Arrow and Gotham, which is my new favourite. You spend a lot of time in airports and planes. We recently went to Volgograd in the VTB League and had a three-hour delay, missed the second flight in Moscow and had to stay there, in a nearby hotel, for eight hours. You get to see a lot of airport hotels, too, which is also interesting. Nobody is playing video games or cards, but we all have iPhones, iPads, computers and books. Everybody is on his own. My roommate is Victor Rudd and he is a very good one apart from snoring very much! He is fun and likes to watch TV. He is playing great basketball right now.
We will play against Strasbourg in the next round. They have a very good coach in Vincent Collet, who is also the French national team coach. He is very famous and well known. This team will be hard to beat even when I read that Matt Howard got injured. He is an important player for them. Knowing what we did in front of our fans against Zenit, it is actually positive that we will play the first game at home and then go to Strasbourg. We have to be positive and I am expecting a very good game this week. It will be very interesting to see who will advance. Playing at home the first game can be an advantage depending on what kind of team you are. We are an offensive-minded team and are averaging six or seven more points at home than on the road. Our percentages are higher and we are used to playing in our gym. Teams like Galatasaray lost here. It is very important to use the home-court advantage, especially in important games like this in which every point counts.
I guess that beating Maccabi in Tel Aviv was our biggest result of the season if you see it from the outside. Maccabi is a big team in Europe and we eliminated them in a do-or-die situation. Maccabi is a strong team and it was very important for us to beat them, but right now, if you see how strong the Eurocup has been, Maccabi would find it very hard to win this competition. Zielona Gora beat Unics, a team that destroyed us in the VTB League. Gran Canaria plays very good basketball, Bayern lost against ALBA in the German Cup final but advanced to the Eurocup Quarterfinals. It is very hard to measure the power of each team. Beating Maccabi was very important but just because we beat them, it doesn't mean we will have it easy against anyone. Strasbourg is also a former Euroleague team, more experienced than us, and we have to be fully focused to win this game.
You can tell by the last graph that I watch a lot of basketball! I am watching the Eurocup and VTB League games to see our next opponents, but also to try to improve my game. I have to find ways to be efficient for my team, to help us keep winning and be successful. I have to say I analyze pretty much every game we play. It is very important for me if I want to get better. It all started by talking to Roko-Leni Ukic while he was with Fenerbahce. I understood that after-the-game scouting was very important. I have a lot of free time here, so I watch our games and see what I did wrong in order to improve. You can always see positive and negative things, and improve by yourself. For a professional basketball player, it is very important to watch basketball. Also, I have a lot of friends in the Eurocup, so I like to watch them play!
I am sure we will have a good crowd against Strasbourg. The fans who are coming are really loyal, there is a good number of them that come to all of our home games and who support us in good and bad times. It is also nice to know they will be there. They really want to see us succeed and come to watch us, not the opponents. I hope there will be a lot of people there. Any support we can get helps, every fan counts a little bit!
Wish us luck – and don't miss the games!
Nizhny Novgorod landed Sean Denison
BC Nizhny Novgorod signed a one-year deal with Canadian bigman Sean Denison (211 cm, 111 kg, 32 y.o.). Last season he spent in Romanian CSM Oradea, participating in the national championship and Basketball Champions League. From 2011 till 2013 he played in Russian clubs Spartak-Primorye and Ataman.
Nizhny Novgorod terminated the contract with American forward Erik McCree who’d joined the team this august. The decision was made by mutual agreement. At the moment Nizhny is in search of a new player for the vacant place.
BC Nizhny Novgorod signed Erik McCree
BC NN signed a two-year contract with American forward Erik McCree (23 y.o., 203 cm, 102 kg). From 2013 to 2017 he was playing for Louisiana Tech in NCAA. Last season he showed his best statistics averaging 17,7 points, 8,9 rebounds, 1,3 assists in 33 games.
Sterling Gibbs joins BC Nizhny Novgorod
BC NN signed a two-year deal with American point guard Sterling Gibbs (188cm, 84kg, 24 y.o). In his college years he played for Seton Hall Pirates and Connecticut Huskies in NCAA. In 2016-2017 spent his first season overseas as he joined Hungarian team Kormend. He helped the team to semifinals in Hungarian Cup and Hungarian League averaging 14,4 points, 2,1 rebounds, 3,3 assists in 27 games.
