Timma Catches Fire In Game 2

Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Avtodor Saratov in Game 2 of the playoff quarterfinals, 97-85. The contest was competitive until the 4th quarter when Zenit forward Janis Timma took over, guiding the home team to victory. St. Petersburg leads 2-0 in the best-of-five series with Game 3 scheduled for Saratov.

Intro
Game 1 in the series went down to the final minute. Zenit squeaked out the win at home, but Avtodor proved it could be competitive away from home. Entering Game 2, the visitors hoped to even the series and steal home-court advantage.

Both teams came out firing, combining for 58 points in the opening period! With Zenit leading by six, both teams slowed the tempo in the 2nd quarter. The shift in tactics worked to Avtodor's advantage. By limiting St. Petersburg to 16 points in the period, Saratov cut the deficit to three, 48-45, at halftime. Burned by Janis Timma for 13 points in the 1st quarter, the visitors held the Latvian to three in the 2nd quarter, helping key the comeback.

Zenit never trailed in the 3rd quarter, though Avtodor repeatedly threatened. Paul Stoll and Jeremy Chappell helped the visitors score 25 points in the period and cut the deficit to two entering the 4th.

Early in the final period, Saratov even briefly took the lead, 76-75, on two free throws from Reggie Williams.

But the game ultimately belonged to Janis Timma and the home team. Sitting on 20 points, Timma erupted for 15 in the 4th quarter to carry Zenit to victory. Though St. Petersburg ultimately won by a comfortable margin (97-85), the final minutes of the game were marred by a conflict that ended in five ejections: Zenit's Anton Pushkov and Alexander Karpukhin and Avtodor's Paul Stoll, Jeremy Chappell and Alan Makiev.

Star Player
Janis Timma. 35 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, 7-7 from inside the arc and 5-9 from beyond. Timma put together one of the best playoff performances in league history!

Stats of the Game
35 points and 15 rebounds - Timma set two new playoff records. The old scoring record was held by Krylia's Michal Ignerski (33 points), while Viktor Khryapa pulled down 14 rebounds during last year's playoffs, matched by Avtodor's Travis Peterson in Game 1 of this series.

Quotes
Zenit head coach Vasily Karasev:
- That was a tough game. Everyone knew how important it was. We had to win today in order to go to Saratov and finish the series. This was a very stressful game. We played physical, at times dirty basketball and there were some conflicts. My guys in the locker room have split lips, banged-up noses and scratches. It's good that we held on and survived to win by a comfortable margin.

Avtodor head coach Vladimir Antsiferov:
- Zenit and Avtodor are two even teams. Some things worked and other things didn't for both them and us. We didn't hit our open shots, while our opponent did. We emphasized rebounding today, in order to increase our number of possessions, but, unfortunately, we couldn't convert. Our field-goal percentage could have been better.

Snapshot