Loko stop Zenit, Zielona Gora displace Khimki from top-8, Avtodor are the hottest right now. Week in review

Loko stop Zenit, Zielona Gora displace Khimki from top-8, Avtodor are the hottest right now. Week in review

All the main events of this amazing United League week.

Loko ruin Zenit’s best franchise start

Zenit started the season with 7 consecutive victories and repeated their franchise best start in the United League. Before the weekend Xavi Pascual’s team were focused on beating club’s record.

But historically, games in Krasnodar aren’t a success for Zenit. Out of 7 on the road games against Loko they took only one victory in March, 2017 (83:80).

It wasn’t a success for Zenit this time as well: the guests allowed 0-21 run in 2nd and 3rd quarters and it decided the game. Loko were 20 points ahead after the big break and even though they had bad streaks they kept the lead and beat Saint Petersburg for the first time in the season.

Zenit, who have League’s premium offense, scored 7 points less than on average, and allowed 14 points more than on average. It can be explained by players’ fatigue, because Pascual’s squad played their 5th game in 11 days: before, Zenit made a 19-point comeback against UNICS and spent 3 Euroleague games.

The hero of the game was Jordan Crawford. Loko’s guard started struggling: he was blocked by Austin Hollins.

Probably, this play motivated Crawford: as a result he scored 23 points setting career-high in the League, and also gave out 4 assists:

And the defensive player of the game was Reggie Lynch. Center made 6 blocks, it’s his career-high and repeat of the United League season’s record:

Krasnodar didn’t let Zenit take record 8th victory. However, Petersburg still are on the first spot in standings.

Avtodor become the hottest team in the League

After Zenit’s defeat the longest winning streak in the League is now Avtodor’s, on Sunday Saratov won for the fifth consecutive time beating Enisey at home.

By the middle of the third Avtodor were 14 point ahead: Krasnoyarsk couldn’t do anything with the trio Mason-Sakic-Gordon that was tearing guests’ defense apart.

However, Enisey managed to come back via Mikhail Kulagin’s accurate shots and Leyton Hammonds’ three cut the gap to 1 point with a minute and a half left. Avtodor managed to overcome the bad streak and took 5th victory in a row.

After the game Enisey head coach Drazen Anzulovich noted that they were lacking in guards. Thus, in Krasnoyarsk they are looking forward to see the rookie Jordan Matthews. May be, the guard will debut for his new team on Sunday in Nizhny Novgorod.

Avtodor’s situation is much better than Siberians’ one. Via long winning streak Saratov settled in the top of the table and hold 4th spot outpacing Loko, UNICS, and Khimki.

UNICS continue to win at home

Kazan has an interesting tendency this season: Dimitrios Priftis’ team beat everybody at Basket Hall but can’t win on the road. UNICS is the only team that haven’t lost at home yet (4-0) and haven’t won on the road (0-3).

Home game against Kalev wasn’t an exception: Kazan double digit lead in the first quarter and were up by 20 points after the half time. Marcus Keene’s performance – 18 points, 8 rebounds and assists and forward Maurice Kemp debut – 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals didn’t help Tallinn.

UNICS themselves unlike Tallinn don’t such an offensive leader. Nate Wolters was best in scoring (14), assisting (6) and efficiency (17), and he also participated in the play of the game:

PARMA break 2-year losing streak against Tsmoki

PARMA continue getting in shape after a month quarantine. On Saturday, Kazys Maksvytis’ squad beat the Dragons on the road – 78:65.

It’s interesting that PARMA couldn’t beat Belarus since November, 2018, and basically Tsmoki isn’t the most comfortable opponent for Ural: before it, Minsk won 5 out of 7 games.

The bad streak was stopped with the help of Russian players. Adas Juskevicius, who was bright against Loko, wasn’t noticeable, Robert Johnson still try to find his own rhythm, only Eigirdas Zukauskas scored more than 10 points. The best scorer was Gleb Sheiko with 14 points, Vladimir Ivlev and Konstantin Bulanov both scored 10. Hoowever, the most efiicient was Mareks Mejeris with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

Adas Juskevicius who didn’t prove himself in offense did it in defense:

Zielona Gora displace Khimki from play-off zone

In the last game of the tour Zielona Gora outclassed Astana easily – 110:86. The guests withstood only one quarter, and then fell behind badly.

Geoffrey Groselle was making the difference by the half time: the center wasn’t remarkable on the game’s start but in the second quarter he scored 21 points:

Groselle could have set career-high in the League (26 points) and even season-high (34 points by Anton Astapkovich) but ended with 23 points. Nevertheless, even without it Zielona Gora made it to the victory confidently, first against Astana. And 110 points is a franchise-high in 3 seasons in the United League

Zielona Gora are in the play-off zone for the first time in season, they are 8th now. It’s interesting that the Poles displaced Khimki from the play-off zone.

Team Of The Week

Standings

By the middle of December there are no more undefeated teams, Avtodor settled on the fourth spot and Zielona Gora displaced Khimki from top-8.