The key VTB League events in the last month of 2022.
MBA clinches to the playoffs in its debut season in the League
The League newcomer began to surprise everyone from the first games of the season: beat Loko on the road, demonstrated one of the best starts for a newcomer in the entire history of the League with Top 4 place.
In December, MBA won 3 games in a row and before the Moscow Derby caught up with Zenit in wins. Vasily Karasev team even took the lead at the halftime against CSKA, but eventually lost.
And even with this loss, MBA finished 2022 at the 4th place. And the team has clinched to the 2023 playoffs 3 months after the start of the season!
Together with MBA, CSKA, UNICS and Zenit have already clinched to the playoffs, Loko and Pari NN are close to this.
Sensation of the month
In the fall, Avtodor had the coach change – and all because of 7 losses in 9 games. Darko Russo, who took over the team in mid-November, managed to raise the Saratov team 10th to 8th place in a month, with 5 wins in 9 games.
One of the most stunishing was against the reigning champion. In December, Zenit played in Saratov without the ill head coach Xavi Pascual, and Avtodor took advantage of this. The St. Petersburg team was only 1 point behind by the halftime, but in the third quarter the Volga team lead increased by 17 point before the final quarter!
Avtodor lead reached 22 points, at the end the difference was slightly less – 91:79. It was still a sensation: before that, the Top-3 team had never lost to a team, who are not in the playoff zone.
Malik Newman became the hero of the game: Avtodor guard scored 25 points, repeating his United League high!
Surprisingly, the win over Zenit happened just 5 days after the loss to Astana, which closed the standings.
Comeback of the Month
Usually not impressive in scoring, Enisey scored 43 points at home by the middle of the second quarter against Pari NN, led by 16 points. Orlando Coleman led the run and scored 16 points.
But Nizhny Novgorod continued to push and achieved the desired result. Already in the third quarter, the Volga team took the lead and got the win with comeback trailing by 16 points. It was the biggest comeback of the month.
The key to win was defense: Zoran Lukic team won the second half 38:24.
Number of the month
CSKA has 18 wins in a row. Back in early December, the Army team updated the club high in wins at the start of the season in the League and the team repeated Khimki high: in the 2013/14 season, the Moscow region team won 18 consecutive games.
In order to set a new League record, CSKA needs to win next game. against Enisey in Krasnoyarsk on January 6.
Friendship of the Month
In early December, UNICS and CSKA played in Kazan. The atmosphere in the Basket Hall was tense. At some point, Casper Ware fouled Jalen Reynolds, and it seemed that the fight could take place. But UNICS forward quickly figured out how to escape the conflict:
Record of the month
Astana center Michael Myers finished December with a double-double of 12.8 points and 12.5 rebounds per match. Michael leads the list of the best rebounders with 9.1 rebounds per game this season.
Myers who updated the 2022/23 season high for in – 18 against MBA! However, it did not save his Astana from loss (59:81).
Steph Curry of the Month
MBA won the first half of the Moscow Derby against CSKA. Largely with the help of Daniil Kasatkin: the guard made 4 three-pointers in a row at the start of the second quarter!
It took Daniil a little more than 2 minutes. 127 seconds, to be exact:
As a result, Kasatkin updated the career high in points (28) and three-pointers made (7).
Time-out of the month
UNICS beat Zenit at home. Moreover, the lead in the fourth quarter was quite comfortable – 92:84 2 minutes before the end. At this moment, the Kazan team relaxed and had a 5-point lead. And the head coach Velimir Perasovic did not like it at all:
After such a timeout, UNICS could not lose the win.
Trickshot of the Month
Loko guard Jaylen Barford seemed to caught a fire in a pre-game shootaround:
But it didn’t help – Loko lost (76:89), and Barford made only 6 out of 16 from the game.
Steward of the Month
The atmosphere at UNICS games is great and even stewards in Basket Hall show off:
Standings
