UNICS come back after being down by 16

UNICS come back after being down by 16

UNICS outplayed Tsmoki-Minsk at home – 83:77 (13:27, 28:18, 25:17, 17:15).

Top scorers
UNICS: Isaiah Canaan (33+5 rebounds), Jordan Theodore (15+8 assists), Jordan Morgan (10)
Tsmoki-Minsk: Kris Clyburn (19+8 rebounds), Andrei Rahozenka (16), Robert Lowery (15), Artsiom Parakhouski (13+7 rebounds)

Story
Tsmoki haven’t beaten Kazan since 2017 and were motivated to do so. The first minutes were equal, but Robert Lowery and ex-UNICS player Artsiom Parakhouski made 11:0 run for the guests. UNICS were not confident: after another three by Lowery, the difference was 16 points. Tsmoki destroyed UNICS in that quarter – 27:14.

However, UNICS coaches found the right words in the small break. The hosts started the second quarter with a 9:0 run by Isaiah Canaan, Jordan Theodore and John Holland. Tsmoki woke up and got back to double digits soon, but it was sure that UNICS paced up. Another series of shots by Canaan and Pavel Antipov, plus Jordan Theodore’s actions helped the hosts to erase Tsmoki’s lead down to 4 points. 45:41 after the first half.

UNICS proved controlling status in the third quarter. Another performance by Canaan, and the hosts took the lead for the first time since minute two. 68:62 before the last quarter.

Key moment
Tsmoki were not giving up and chased Kazan for the most part of the last quarter. But with 70:68 on the scoreboard, Canaan, Theodore and Dmitrii Uzinskii created another run transforming ‘+2’ into ‘+9’ within 90 seconds. Minsk had nothing to respond.

Hero
Isaiah Canaan. UNICS guard took part in all key runs and set his career high in VTB League – 33 points.

Stat
16 points of maximum lead by Tsmoki in this game.

Comment

Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Rostislav Vergun:
“We’re in a bad streak, we really need a victory. Thanks to the guys for their work and attitude. UNICS are one of the most trained and disciplined teams in the league. Great organiztaion, smooth plays. We couldn’t survive their signature defense. Too many turnovers, weak offensive plays in the seconf half. Congrats to UNICS and thanks to my players.”

UNICS head coach Dimitris Priftis: 
“First of all, it was a bad game. Dissapointing thinking. We adjusted the game after the first quarter. Big respect to the opponents, they played well. They are trained well, they fought well.
But I want to tell a story to everyone who listens to me. It is for everyone, the players, the coaches, my assistants. Every time you get ready to face an opponent. One day, one game. And then your mom calls and asks who do play today. “It’s Minsk”. “Ah, so you’ll surely win”. Because you are the best team in theory. And then your wife calls, and your daughter. And everyone says you’ll win. And it happens to all of us. We come to play with mentality of our wives, moms and daughters. Even we think that we’ll get an easy win. But this “Ah, ok” is the greatest illusion and self-disrespect. Because tonight, there were 12 players, and we, the coaches who came here thinking we’d win only because we got on the floor. Like the opponent will not move and be ready to lose. Because we’re better. Because Tsmoki won only one game and they’re in the bottom. And we think we’ll win because our wives and moms said it would be an easy game. CSKA of course is tough one, we gotta be serious. But for all of us tonight was the hardest game. If we don’t change our attitude, we’ll lose. We’ll lose to oursleves.”

Next
UNICS: December 26 vs CSKA
Tsmoki-Minsk: December 23 at Lokomotiv-Kuban

Photo 20/12/2020 UNICS-Tsmoki 83:77