There are only week and a half left before United League All-Star Game! The event will take place in Moscow at VTB Arena on February 16, the tickets are available on https://allstar.vtb-league.com
We are recalling All-Star Game 2019 highlights.
What: 3rd Untied League All-Star Game
Where: VTB Arena, Moscow
When: February 17, 2019
Number of spectators: 11 600
Russia Stars – World Stars – 115:118 (33-36, 33-27, 23-31, 26-24)
Russia Stars: Dmitriy Kulagin (Lokomotiv-Kuban), Evgeny Voronov (Zenit), Nikita Kurbanov (CSKA), Sergey Monia (Khimki), Artem Klimenko (UNICS); Dmitry Khvostov, Vitaly Fridzon (both – Lokomotiv-Kuban), Nikita Mikhailovskii (Avtodor), Ivan Strebkov (Nizhny Novgorod), Andrey Vorontsevich, Joel Bolomboy (both – CSKA), Artem Zabelin (Avtodor); head coach – Oleg Okulov (Enisey)
World Stars: Jamar Smith (UNICS), Sergio Rodriguez, Kyle Hines (both – CSKA), Dorell Wright (Lokomotiv-Kuban), Jordan Mickey (Khimki); Kendrick Perry (Nizhny Novgorod), Anthony Clemmons (Astana), D’Angelo Harrison (Enisey), Janari Joesaar (Kalev), Perrin Buford (Avtodor), Rashard Kelly (PARMA); head coach – Dimitrios Priftis (UNICS)
First basketball at VTB Arena
Realization of the All Star Game at VTB Arena had its own risks: when the location was officially approved, the sports complex had not yet been put in service. The CEO of the League, Ilona Korstin, said this in a comment:
“We visited the arena many times, we see how it is put in service, only small details remain. Of course, there are certain risks to hold such a huge event at the new arena, but our decision was balanced.
However, no problems arose during the event. The new modern hall held 11,600 fans – almost 5,000 more than at the Yubileyny on the All-Star Game in St. Petersburg!
The All Star Game-2019 made the history of the arena: for the first time, a basketball game would have been held at it!
Transformation
It turned out that you can turn a hockey arena into a basketball arena in one night:
Kilometer queue for an autograph session
Two top League stars – Alexey Shved from Khimki and Nando De Colo from CSKA – were injured, which caused the organizers were in need to find replacements on the eve of the event. So, instead of a Khimki player, Nikita Mikhailovskii went to the VTB Arena court and Janari Joesaar from Kalev helped the CSKA player.
However, Moscow fans did not remain without their favorites: before the start of the All Star Game, Shved and De Colo held an autograph session, during which they took pictures and talked to everyone.
But there were plenty of willing people: to get to the picture next to one of the stars, it was necessary to stay for a long line. We walked from the tail of the queue to Alexey and Nando – and it took about 5 minutes.
😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/aBUo6JLTT8
— VTB United League (@VTBUL) February 17, 2019
Stars
Kasta.
Kasta burst into the All Star Game and fit into it so organically that it seemed as if the musicians always lived on a basketball show. The half-hour set passed away quickly, and everyone was satisfied: and Kasta who performed in front of an almost 12,000 of spectators who enjoyed the music of the cult hip-hop group; and both the players and the fans warmed up and were ready for the main game.
A Million shot
Shortly before the All-Star Game, the organizers announced that anyone can win a million rubles. There were several rules: it was necessary to shoot an unusual video with a shot from the centre of the court and tell how you can usefully spend this money. The authors of the best shots were invited to the VTB Arena. Each of the 4 finalists of the competition had one shot from the centre of the court – one chance to send the ball into the net and leave the court with a million rubles.
The world saw great stories. The schoolgirl scored from the centre of the site and explained that in case of victory she would spend money on gym repairs. A cadet dreamed of playing with his team in the championship of the country’s military schools. The children’s coach was going to win a million to take part in an international tournament with his team.
Four finalists gathered in the centre of the venue at the VTB Arena – but none of them managed to repeat their shot, which was previously filmed on video.
Basketball in the dark
Most of the basketball fans who played on the street faced one problem: after sunset, it was getting too dark. VTB League found the answer: you can play with a luminous ball and uniform at any time of the day!
The best dunker is in Khimki
Viacheslav Zaitcev was already invited to the slam dunk contest, but just before the 2017 All-Star Game, Khimki’s guard was injured, and instead of him Maxim Kolyushkin flew over the hoop in Sochi.
After 2 years, Zaitcev nevertheless got to the dunk contest – together with Vitaly Liutych from Tsmoki, Janari Joesaar from Kalev and Kendrick Perry from Nizhny Novgorod. To get to the finals, Vyacheslav used help of Khimki partner Sergey Monia, and Kendrick Perry flew over the club mascot!
In the final, Zaitcev turned out to be stronger. However, it’s better to once again see the highlights of the contest than to read about it:
The famous pistols of Vitaly Fridzon
In the 3-point shootout contest, it wasn’t less hot: in the first round, Dorell Wright and Kristjan Kitsing scored the same number of points, Artis Ate stayed behind his competitors just because of a miss with the last bonus ball, and only Vitaly Fridzon pre-arranged for the finals, gaining 19 points. His Loko colleague, Dorell Wright, set up Kitsing from Tallinn on a tie-break, and two Kuban came together in a decisive shootout.
In the final, the VTB League champion was stronger than the NBA champion – Vitaly Fridzon shot with his famous pistols 6 points more than his teammate. By the way, Loko guard won 500,000 rubles in the competition and gave it out for charity.
Buzzer
The first two games of the VTB League Stars were won by Russia Stars – rivals from the World Stars team were determined to recover. In the first 35 minutes, the players exchanged spectacular moments, but in the end no one wanted to concede. With an equal score – 115: 115 – Kendrick Perry from Nizhny took the ball, created space for a shot with a insane step back and put a three-pointer – 10 seconds before the buzzer!
MVP
The World Stars team managed to defend themselves in their last possession and for the first time in League history won the All-Star Game – 118: 115!
And if Kendrick Perry became the hero of the ending, then Sergio Rodriguez turned out to be the most valuable player in the team: in 19 minutes on the court, CSKA guard scored 20 points, made 5 assists and was eventually recognized as the MVP of the All-Star Game!
Recalling, that All-Star Game 2020 will take place at VTB Arena on February 16 in Moscow and it will be Russia Stars against World Stars. Tickets for All-Star Game are available on https://allstar.vtb-league.com.
