McCollum scores 38 points, Astana surprises everyone and takes the win away from St. Petersburg. Week review

McCollum scores 38 points, Astana surprises everyone and takes the win away from St. Petersburg. Week review

The key moments and news of the second week of the season!

The first sensation of the 2021/22 season is on Astana

At the start of almost every United League season, there were unexpected results: Tsmoki beat UNICS, CSKA lost to Enisey and PARMA, VEF surprised Khimki on a road.

In the new season, the sensation did not have to wait long: already in the second week, Astana took away the win against Zenit from St. Petersburg. The Kazakh team won absolutely deservedly – even Zenit coach Xavi Pascual acknowledged this: “They were motivated, but we had no interest in playing today. And I don’t even know why.”

During the first half, Astana won +12, but after a missed run it went to a big break with a 5-point gap. It is significant that at the start of the 3rd quarter, the guests made a 15-1 run and held their double-digit lead until the final buzzer – 83:69. Moreover, this is not the biggest Astana win over Zenit: in the 2017/18 season in Nur-Sultan, St. Petersburg lost -23 (64:87).

The secret of Astana’s success lay in shots from far: the guests scored 12 three-pointers with 57% and managed to achieve the win with only 7 free-throws scored!

It is worth to point out the young Russian Mark Tikhonenko: the 23-year-old Astana forward played his first game in the United League, scored 9 points, made 6 rebounds in 32 minutes.

But the hero of the game was Jaylen Barford. The guard got 1 block and 4 steals in defense, and he became absolutely the best in the Astana offencive end: 24 points, 10/17 from the field!

CSKA came back to Nizhny Novgorod and fought back for a misfire in the playoffs

The games history between Nizhny Novgorod and CSKA is interesting not only by basketball itself, but also by family ties. In different years, the Army club colours were defended by the current NN players: Mikhail Kulagin, Anton Astapkovich, Alexander Gankevich, Ivan Strebkov and Anton Kardanakhishvili. Even Zoran Lukic managed to work in the CSKA system. The Army team also included ex-Nizhny Novgorod players: Semen Antonov and Vladimir Ivlev.

Last time, CSKA had visited Nizhny Novgorod and they were defeated. It was not so long ago: in May, Nizhny leveled the score in the 1/4 finals of the playoffs.

This Sunday, CSKA took revenge In the city on Volga, winning with a 20-point difference. Although in the first 30 minutes there was no hint of a chushing defeat: the leader changed 5 times on the court, and for the big break NN trailed by only 4.

But the lack of playing tone – Nizhny Novgorod held the first official game of the season in an updated roster – did not allow the home team to battle on equal terms with the League champion for all 40 minutes. CSKA took the 3rd win in a row, scoring more than 96 points per game on average this season!

Tsmoki tried to fight back, but McCollum sets a record

The game in Krasnodar turned out to be interesting. Even despite the 21-point gap in the game, Tsmoki managed to revive the intrigue and brought the matter to a nervous ending. Perhaps the Minsk team would even be able to repeat UNICS fate a week ago and make a comeback from -21 – there were all chances for this.

But in 40 minutes, Tsmoki did not figure out how to stop Eric McCollum. Loko guard played one of his best games in his career, and 38 points is not only the sesaon best and a career high in the United League, but also the record of the Kuban club for points in one League game! Only 7 people in the United League history scored more than 38 points.

But in addition to being over-productive, McCollum gave 8 assists and finished the game with 43 eff. points (the 11th result in the League history)!

 

Tsmoki, despite the loss, demonstrated that they are ready to fight for win in every game. Very soon, another legionnaire should join the team – this is Jason Clark.

Rajkovic will make his debut for Avtodor with the win in Tallinn

Kalev and Avtodor game certainly pleased the fans. The teams played the most resultative game of the new season, scoring 190 points for both. At the same time, the players did not forget about the highlights: for example, JeQuan Lewis gave Rauno Nurger a flashy assist.

And Avtodor newcomer DJ Funderburk flight got on the first line of the weekly top moments!

The ending also turned out to be exciting: Kalev tried to give the fans the first win in the League season, but the Saratov team, under the new coach Emil Rajkovic leadership, were against it and turned out to be more successful at the end. If we talk about performances, then first of all it is worth highlighting the new Avtodor guard, Kenny Chery.

Debut of the week

Kenny Chery demonstrated his capabilities in the first game for the new team: 28 points at 85% from the field, 6 assists, 32 eff. points. If the guard continues in the same spirit, then the Saratov team can count on returning to the playoffs.

Shot of the week

Jaylen Barford from Astana hints that it’s time to move the three-point line:

Heroes of the Week

Iffe Lundberg and Tornike Shengelia helped CSKA break Nizhny Novgorod resistance and get the 3rd win in a row.
Kenny Chery was incredibly effective and almost did not miss in the game versus Kalev.
Jaylen Barford worked on both sides of the court and became Astana leader in the game against Zenit.
Finally, Eric McCollum put on a performance of the week with 38 points and 8 assists in the game against Tsmoki.

Standings

CSKA and UNICS have no losses, Avtodor and Astana are at the top.