CSKA outpace UNICS, Loko have 5 consecutive wins, PARMA come back to play-off zone. Week in review

CSKA outpace UNICS, Loko have 5 consecutive wins, PARMA come back to play-off zone. Week in review

Less than a month left in the regular season!

CSKA displace UNICS from the second spot

In the game of the week CSKA and UNICS faced. For Kazan the game in Moscow happened at wrong time: UNICS also play against Loko in EuroCup quarterfinals. After two difficult games Dimitrios Priftis team didn’t stand in Moscow against CSKA.

UNICS had energy only for the first half. By the half time the guests were at the same level as CSKA in terms of efficiency, in terms of effectiveness were even better:

However, tough schedule made the difference. CSKA showed stable offense throughout the whole game, increased the lead to 19 points, UNICS lost their head coach in the fourth quarter; Dimitrios Priftis was sent off because of 2 technical fouls; UNICS’ 10-game winning streak was ended. It is interesting that the latest defeat in the League Kazan suffered from CSKA as well in 2020 December.

CSKA won even though Mike James hasn’t played. The guard went to the locker room in the beginning of the first quarter and didn’t come back even to the bench. On Monday the team announced that the played is suspended due to head coach’s decision.

Via victory in the game of the week CSKA outpaced UNICS in standings and brought second place back with less than a month left in the regular season. However, CSKA’s schedule is even more difficult: in April they’ll face Zenit, Loko and Nizhny.

Loko have the longest acting winning streak

After the UNICS’ defeat in Moscow Loko are now having the longest winning streak. Successful game in Tallinn was the fifth consecutive for Kuban.

Using Loko’s focus on EuroCup, Kalev wanted to break Krasnodar winning streak. The Estonians won the first half, and only Kuzminskas – Gordon – Williams-Goss trio’s performance let Krasnodar take the W.

In addition, after half time Loko paced up at defense: they allowed one and a half times less points and forced Kalev to make 12 turnovers in 20 minutes!

5-game streak allowed Loko get close to CSKA and UNICS: in case of Moscow or Kazan losing Evgeny Pashutin’s team joins top-3.

Shved comes off the bench and scores 25 points against Tsmoki

Due to back injury Khimki’s leader Alexey Shved missed almost a month. On Sunday he came back in the game against Tsmoki-Minsk and proved he is season’s best scorer: 25 points, 5/9 on three-point shooting, 24 efficiency points.

Khimki’s victory was quite confident (89:65) and crucial. Firstly, Khimki for the first time in 2021 Khimki brought positive record back. Secondly, they settled on 7th outpacing PARMA and Avtodor and also started the chase after Zielona Gora and NN.

Despite bad period in winter Khimki still can take 5th place in regular season. The schedule will help: from the 5 remaining games only one team is in the play-off zone at the moment, this is Nizhny Novgorod.

Nizhny win in Krasnoyarsk for the first time in 6 years

However, Nizhny themselves don’t want to give up 5th place. The victory over Enisey in Krasnoyarsk was the third in a row, last loss took place more than a month ago.

After the game Zoran Lukic noted that his team is exhausted. Anyway, the game didn’t prove it: Nizhny scored 30 points in the first quarter, were up by 16 points and were close to 100 points in a game – 96:86.

However, Nizhny have their reasons to be fatigued: the game in Krasnoyarsk was the third in a week for the team. Before the game against Enisey NN won two times in Champions League and became the first Russian team to clinch Final Eight.

PARMA come back to play-off zone

This season Perm tried the battle on two fronts: apart from United League PARMA participate in FIBA Cup. Last week Ural played in bubble in Bulgaria where they made Final Four; this is historic achievement for Perm!

In three days Kazys Maksvytis’ squad were facing Astana. Tough schedule and a long flight to Nur-Sultan influenced: all the first half long PARMA were chasing. Michael Thompson was giving a hard time to the guests: small guard scored almost half of team points (22 from 46).

Defense on Thompson was the key for PARMA’s victory: after the big break Astana’s leader wasn’t active at offense, they held Kazakhstan scoring. Perm finished losing streak and celebrated victory, the first one since All-Star and international window.

PARMA got back to play-off zone outpacing Avtodor.

Team of the week

Alexey Shved became Khimki’s top scorer in the first game after an injury – 25 points, 5/9 on three-point shooting.
Kasey Shepherd helped Nizhny take 3rd consecutive victory – 27 points, 6 assists, 3 steals.
Will Clyburn spent a season-high game and became a hero in the game against UNICS – 24 points, 5 assists.
Eigirdas Zukauskas scored 20 points in Nur-Sultan, PARMA broke 3-game losing streak.
Drew Gordon was the most efficient player in the Loko vs Kalev game – 19 points and 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals.

Standings