Lundberg stops Avtodor, Strebkov and Shved have best games in their careers, CSKA win in Kazan first time in 3 years. Week in review

Lundberg stops Avtodor, Strebkov and Shved have best games in their careers, CSKA win in Kazan first time in 3 years. Week in review

Week of high scoring and personal highs!

CSKA end bad streak in Kazan

In recent years UNICS were quite uncomfortable opponent for CSKA. The last victory in Kazan happened in December 2017!

This game of the week had lots of expectations, not all the expectations were met but the game was hot. Greek coaches duel was interesting to see – Dimitios Priftis and Dimitris Itoudis were emotional all game long. At times it seemed like they were ready to step on the court and show their team how it’s done:

Also, there was another duel on the court, the duel between two high class scorers, Isaiah Canaan and Mike James. Kazan guard won it setting season-high in scoring. Isaiah scored 36 points:

But this achievement turned out to be not so valuable: during the game, CSKA came off at «+14», and even Canaan’s heroism did not save UNICS from the fourth defeat of the season. Mike James became the best CSKA scorer, but this victory is not only on his account. Another hero was Tornike Shengelia, who scored the first double-double for CSKA with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

By the way, speaking about the rebounds. Via good work on boards, CSKA were able to stop their series of losses in Kazan. CSKA made 19 more rebounds (47-26) and scored 21 second chance points.

Shved and Khimki push PARMA out of the playoff zone

Khimki did not start the season with big success (3 wins and 5 losses), but finished the year on a positive note, beating PARMA at home.

The game turned out to be fun. Already in the first quarter, the teams hit 12 three-pointers combined:

And then Khimki scored 61 before the long break! The team attacked from the perimeter with incredible accuracy, and of course, Alexey Shved was at the head of this celebration of the shooters’ day, who did not miss at all from beyond the arch in the first 20 minutes:

As the head coach of PARMA Kazys Maksvytis said after the game, it is difficult to stand against an opponent with such a high percentage of three-pointers. Khimki did not break the season-high for accurate long-range shots, but they were very close to it:

In particular the game of Alexey Shved is to be noted: a record 28 points in the season with 7/8 from the perimeter, 10 assists, 5 rebounds and the best in a guard’s career 40 points for efficiency! If the Khimki’s leader continues to play in the same manner, then the team itself, of course, will quickly rise higher in the standings.

Tsmoki stopped one shot away from victory in Krasnodar

A week and a half ago, Tsmoki lost their leader Maksim Salash, who left for the Spanish Burgos. But the Dragons managed to adapt to the game surprisingly quickly: last Sunday they were close to a sensational victory in Kazan, and Wednesday they could have their first home victory of this season against Loko.

The situation for Krasnodar in the first half looked critical. First, already in the 1st quarter the guest forward Benjamin-Pavel Dodoo renewed his career-high in the League:

And then Tsmoki completely broke away at +13. But Loko managed to slow down the opponent and left for a long break as a leader:

As a result, Loko won, but kept their fans worried until the final buzzer. And all that because Tsmoki with «-1» had some time for the last offense, but due to the absence of time-outs, none of their leaders could be brought to the shot.

Jordan Crawford can rightfully be called Loko’s savior. He organized a comeback in the second quarter, shooting 15 points, and left the floor with a record 27 points for himself in the League:

Iffe Lundberg – chief newsmaker of the week

 

Jordan Crawford had an outstanding game, Alexey Shved showed the best efficiency in his career, Mike James and Tornike Shengelia interrupted the army’s unsuccessful streak in Kazan, but Iffe Lundberg should be called the brightest player of the week.

The game between Avtodor and Zielona Gora became a real gem of the week. Both teams are in a good shape and both are playoff contenders, that is why the victory in this game was especially valuable. Statistics also demonstrate the tension of the fight: the leader changed 10 times on the floor, 9 more times the score was equal, none of the teams managed to gain a double-digit difference in the score.

The game came to a tense ending, in which Avtodor had all the chances to win. But Iffe Lundberg was against it:

Защитник «Зелена Гуры» не только забил решающий мяч, но и в целом устроил очередной перфоманс: 32 очка, 8 подборов и 5 передач.

Lundberg is having an outstanding season – the Danish has already reached the 30 points mark twice and is leading in the list of the best scorers of the season (if we take out Alan Williams, who is unlikely to play in the regular season due to injury). This Wednesday Iffe also completed Avtodor’s 6 games win streak.

Zenit maintains leadership in the standings by the end of the year

 

Zenit flew to the capital of Kazakhstan for the victory and from the first minutes began to confirm the status of the best team of the season. In the first quarter, Zenit allowed the hosts to score only 9 points, and after a long break they broke away by «+20». Easy win?

Astana did not think so. Taking advantage of their opponent’s relaxation, she broke through with 16-0 and almost evened the score:

This did not save Astana from defeat, but Emil Rajkovikj’s players showed their character. And Zenit, having won the 8th victory, finished 2020 in the status of the first team of the regular championship.

Nizhny remains undefeated at home

 

In the final game of 2020, Nizhny Novgorod hosted Kalev. Kalev arrived in the city not in the most fighting form: the head coach Roberts Stelmahers could count on 9 basketball players only.

We must give Kalev their due: in a truncated rotation and without their best “big” Devin Thomas the team did not had an easy fight – they went to the long break with a 1 point advantage. Marcus Keene did his best: the American guard took responsibility for the guests offense on himself. In 20 minutes, he shot 22 points, without noticing Nizhny’s defense:

 

However, after a long break, the hosts remembered that they are one of the best defensive teams of the season (4th place in the League). Having locked down Keene in the third quarter, Nizhny got ahead by 12, and Kalev simply did not have enough resources for a comeback.

Despite the victory, after the game Zoran Lukic drew attention to the defense of his players, saying that «there were noticeable downturns, especially in defense, and these are the mistakes to be dealt with in the foreseeable future».

Fortunately for Nizhny, Ivan Strebkov played his best game of his 8-year career in the League. The guard scored a double-double of 31 points and 10 assists becoming the 9th Russian basketball player in the «30+» club.

 

Team of the week

Standings