Here are the biggest stories of the weekend.
CSKA drops out of 1st place in St. Petersburg as the battle at the top heats up
The last two games featuring CSKA have had a lot in common. The Army Men faced top-ranked teams. The games were extremely tight and hotly-contested. In both cases, the Moscow club lost.
CSKA’s last two-game losing streak came nearly three years ago in February 2015. Four clubs right now are competing for 1st place (Khimki trails by several games). It’s been a long time since that was the case in the League. Let’s continue to enjoy what could be the best regular season in League history.
In addition to the statement win over the reigning champions, St. Petersburg will remember this dunk for a long time to come.
Loko moves into 1st place
Kalev traveled to Krasnodar following a sensational home win vs. Khimki. But Donaldas Kairys and co. weren’t able to shake up the League standings for a second consecutive week. Led by Dmitry Kulagin (23 points, 7-8 from the field), Lokomotiv played a nearly complete game in winning by 33 points. Thanks to CSKA’s stumble up north, Krasnodar moves into 1st place for the first time this season.
Colom’s game-winner and Ndour’s record in Nizhny
Despite its record, Nizhny Novgorod is a dangerous club and forced UNICS to play its best in a hard-fought road win.
After trailing most of the game, Kazan turned up the intensity in the 4th quarter. Morris Ndour completed a sensational shooting performance, setting the League record for field-goal attempts without a miss: 11-11 and 7-7 from the free-throw line to score 30 points. But even that wasn’t enough. With three seconds left, the score tied 89-89, Quino Colom rebounded his own miss and knocked down one of the biggest shots of the weekend.
PARMA turning heads, moves into 7th
Everything needs to happen for the first time. That’s the case right now with an improving, hungry PARMA team that has aspirations of reaching the postseason. Thanks to the win in Saratov vs. another playoff contender in Avtodor, PARMA now has possession of its first winning streak and 7th place in the standings.
PARMA is for real and won’t be able to take the opposition by surprise much longer. It will be fascinating to see how the team develops in the second half of the season.
Enisey continues to compete, and they aren’t the only ones
Last season’s Cinderella club only had two wins entering the weekend. Krasnoyarsk added Martins Meiers over the weekend and began making up lost ground in Minsk. The Latvian forward delivered with 19 points and 12 rebounds in Belarus, while Enisey earned its first win on the road and is on the verge of cracking the top-eight. Of course, there are four other teams in the League knocking on the door. The competition at every level of the standings is fierce.
