Primoz Brezec to lead Eurocup Cinderella to Semifinals?

Since founded in 2000, Russian side Nizhny Novgorod – in its debut season - are 40 minutes and four points away from registering an historic appearance in the EuroCup semifinals.

Nizhny, a late European bloomer, have recently developed its reputation as a top Russian organization. Now, Serbian head coach Zoran Lukic and his troops are one game short of making history.

Lukic's team lost last week 81-78 to Hapoel Jerusalem during the first encounter of a two-game series where the winner (based on total point differential) will battle Spanish varsity Valencia.

One of the top players in the EuroCup this season, Slovenian international center Primoz Brezec, spoke to Sportando about his team's chances of overcoming a three-point deficit against Jerusalem.

"I didn’t think Yotam Halperin's (game-winning) shot was going in," Brezec said one week removed from Hapoel's game-winning play down the stretch. "It was the end of the game-clock, I was right in Halperin's face, played great defence, but he made one hell of a shot for Hapoel."

During the previous series versus Turkish Besiktas, Nizhny dropped Game 1 by 17, but managed to claw back in Game 2 to win by 24. Therefore, Brezec doesn’t think much of Jerusalem's three-point advantage. "I think our chances (to qualify for the semifinals) are pretty good. Jerusalem has a great team, but we made stupid mistakes in Israel which we shouldn't have, committing way too many turnovers. The bottom line is, we should've come out victorious and returned to Nizhny with the win. However, we feel confident we can beat Jerusalem at home," the 7-foot-1 big man added.

One of Nizhny's biggetst issues off court this season is the lack of fan support. In a city with a population of nearly two million residents, and an arena with a capacity of 5,500, Nizhny – on a good day – manage to wrap up roughly 500 people for home games. The former NBA center whose resume includes showcasing for the Pacers, Pistons, Raptors, 76ers and Bucks, urged the fans to come out.

"I need your help," Brezev confessed, "we don’t have many fans which is surprising, but this is the one game this season where I'm begging our fans to come support us. Not just 500 people who come most of the time. Please come support us because this is the biggest game in Nizhny history and we need your support."

BY DAVID PICK
TWITTER: IAmDPick