Zoran Lukic’s return to the League, three teams crack 100 points, Thomas Robinson finding his groove and other news around the League this week.
Injury bug hits Zenit hard. Karasev down to 9 men
Injuries plagued Zenit throughout preseason, preventing the team from practicing at full strength. But the situation only got worse once the season started. Zenit brought in Ivan Lazarev at the last minute to shore up the frontcourt, but now he’s out for a month with an elbow injury after only one week on the team. As a result, St. Petersburg only had nine men available for the game vs. Astana, sticking an injured Evgeny Voronov on the gameday roster to meet the minimum requirement.
With Zenit’s only two big men, Drew Gordon and Evgeny Valiev, playing hurt (Gordon still threw down what could be the Dunk of the Year), Vasily Karasev’s post-game reaction came as no surprise: “Winning is all that matters for us right now. It doesn’t matter how.”
Lukic returns, Nizhny wins season opener
Nizhny Novgorod’s greatest moments came under Zoran Lukic. Between 2008-2014, the Serbian boss helped the club to a meteoric rise from Russia’s second division to the playoff finals and a EuroLeague berth. His first time around, Lukic relied on up-and-coming Russians, demonstrating an uncanny ability to develop end-of-the bench players into key contributors and bona fide stars. Now he’s ready to start over with a fresh crop of Russian youth.
Not surprisingly, the youngsters were the key to Nizhny’s season-opening win over VEF on Sunday. Vasily Martynov, Dmitry Uzinsky and Ilya Popov gave the team a much-needed shot in the arm during the 3rd quarter, combining for 31 points on the game. As they say in Philly, Trust The Process.
Kazan has something special. Even their opponents are raving
Last November, UNICS hosted Kalev in a regular season meeting, scoring 104 points en route to a comfortable win. On October 15, Kazan took down the Estonian champs once again, also scoring 104 points. But a lot has changed in the intervening 11 months.
“First of all, I want to congratulate UNICS on a good win. This is a completely different team, compared to the one that was here a year or two ago. UNICS got better,” praised Kalev coach Alar Varrak following the game.
Kazan is eating up the compliments. Dimitrios Priftis worked hard in the offseason to build a balanced roster with excellent chemistry and effort. Of course, it’s risky to get carried away this early in the season. On Saturday, UNICS faces its first big test, traveling to Krasnodar to play an equally intriguing Lokomotiv-Kuban.
Oops, he did it again. Thomas Robinson continues to impress
Star newcomer Thomas Robinson is a quick study. The #5 pick in the 2013 NBA draft had a few hiccups in his European debut against VEF a week ago. He looked better against Valencia in the EuroLeague season opener, but his play against Parma on Monday erased any lingering doubts over his value in Moscow Region. The uber-athletic big man was unstoppable in transition, dominated on the glass and in the paint, while throwing down a pair of stunning alley-oops in the Khimki win.
Shootouts abound in Week 2
Offenses everywhere came alive in the League. Each winning team scored at least 80 points, with Avtodor, UNICS and Khimki scoring over 100. It’s been nine months since three teams scored above 100 points in a single weekend.
