PARMA beat Nizhny Novgorod at home – 106:71 (29:24, 31:28, 27:9, 19:10).
Top scorers
PARMA: Artem Zabelin (17), Adas Juskevicius (14 + 6 assists), Maksim Grygoriev (14), Robert Johnson (11), Eigirdas Zukauskas (10 + 6 rebounds), Mareks Mejeris (10 + 6 rebounds).
Nizhny Novgorod: Michael Jenkins (16). Darral Willis (11).
Story
It was a tight game till the middle of the first quarter. Then the hosts took control over the game. Offensive centrepiece was pick’n’roll led by Adas Juskevicius (8 points and 3 assists) and Artem Zabelin (7 points). Nizhny was led by American players. But even successful game by Willis and Jenkins didn’t save Novgorod in the opening quarter – 24:29.
Maksim Grygoriev was a star in the beginning of the second period. The guard made 4 threes and started Ural’s run. He was supported by Perm’s bigs. The hosts via Zukauskas and Zabelin efforts increased their lead to 16 points – 58:42. But the end of the quarter was controlled by Nizhny. Antipov, Jenkins and Chadov’s threes helped them cut the differential twice – 52:60.
Third quarter was key quarter. After the big break the hosts were spirited. They still were confident at offence from behind the arc as well as from the paint. Moreover, Ural finally turned their defense mode on. During first 8 minutes Nizhny made only one field goal. PARMA’s lead reached 25 points at that moment – 82:57.
In the beginning of the final quarter after Zabelin’s dunk hosts’ lead were 30 points – 91:61. During rest of the time Perm easily made it to the win.
Hero
Artem Zabelin became the top scorer (17 points) and most efficient player of the game (20). The Russian was one of the key factors of PARMA’s pick’n’roll offense. His confident actions in the paint were the basis for hosts’ starting run.
Stat
106 – Perm set new franchise high in scoring and differential (+35).
Comments
PARMA head coach Kazys Maksvytis:
– This was a nice win! I like the way the team has started the game: we found a good offensive rythm, and I think that even in the first half we could gain a solid lead. I should note team’s game in the second half when in first 8 minutes we let opponent score only 1 point, and overall 9 and 10 points in 3 and 4 quarters, and I think this was the key to the win tonight. We are glad that we are still focused as team is far away from the play-off zone.
Nizhny Novgorod head coach Zoran Lukic:
– Today PARMA’s game wasn’t a surprise for me, but team’s reaction on my settings for the game was. Unfortunatelly, we tried to correct the details and prepare for the opponent in one practice but this isn’t an excuse. It’s a pity that fans saw this Nizhny Novgorod but I hope that we as a team will analyze this defeat and come to right conclusions.
Next
PARMA: January 26 vs Avtodor
Nizhny Novgorod: January 26 at CSKA
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