Lebanon lost but survived

Kazakhstan - Lebanon 70-69

What a beautiful game! Kazakhstan lost his faith when they didn’t manage the crucial game against Lebanon. It is not the first time that a loser left the court happily so once again it happened here in Tehran in the Azadi gym when the Kazakh won the game but go on tears to the second round.

From the beginning it was clear that this game is “Death or Life” match. Each side was trying to stop each other by following each other point by point. In the 2.24 min a brilliant pass was making for Yegor Biryulin and he put the ball form the middle of the court and led his team 17-13 in front. It was very hard time for the Lebanese. The Russian head coach sent 2 refresh players from the bench but the white side was in good form of shooting this time by Vadim Zhukof: 19-15. At this moment both teams had 4 team fouls, which means each movement cost them 2 free throws.

In the second quarter Kazakhstan used zone defense. The red side of west Asia found the way for penetration terribly hard. But the problem was that the just lost the way of hoop.

In the 5.25 of the second quarter a golden ball was send up to the Lebanon hoop. Yegor Biryulin made that ball for Anton Kotenko and he did his best to get 2 more points of course with a great Alley oop.

The fight got warmer in the last minutes of the second quarter. A 3 points fight between Roy samaha from Lebanon and Vadim Zhukof.

In the third quarter Kazakhstan changed the defense system and used Man to Man and could manage the game and won this quarter 58-50.

The last 10 min was the beautiful part of the game. Lebanon get hope of welcoming by the Jordan’s side and tried more, at the end although they lost 69-70 they survived as the second team of the group after Korea. In another corner Kazakhstan couldn’t move. They left the court by tears and regret of why they didn’t control the game against Saudi Arabia when they were 17 points in front and why they lost the temper and let the Lebanese come close to them in the third quarter?