UNICS beat PARMA on the road – 89:88 (19:23, 20:21, 25:22, 25:22).
Top scorers
PARMA: Adas Juskevicius (34), Mareks Mejeris (15 + 9 rebounds), Nikolai Zhmako (9).
UNICS: Jamar Smith (31), Errick McCollum (18), Raymar Morgan (12)
Story
In previous season PARMA beat UNICS twice in dramatic clutches. Mostly because of these twon games Kazan couldn’t take first place in VTB United league regular season. No wonder the guests wanted to take revenge for previous losses.
However, the beginning of the game was Perm’s. Starting rivals’ 6-0 run made UNICS head coach Dimitrios Priftis take time-out after two minutes of the game. But it didn’t work for Kazan. Perm were dominating on the glass and looked more confident on offense and defense. No wonder PARMA’s lead was double digits in the middle of the first quarter – 16:5.
Kazan pulled themselves together only after second Priftis’ time-out. The guests added aggression to the paint defense, and as for the offense they were counting on their leaders individual skills. Jamar Smith helped UNICS take the lead at some moment – 35:31. But Perm has its hero too. It was Adas Juskevicius who made the difference in the end of the second. Guard scored 8 points in 1,5 minute (16 overall in the first half), and PARMA was leading after the first half – 44:39.
Tight slow basketball of the third quarter seemed to help UNICS’ players. But the hosts were taking a punch. Smith and McCollum’s shots were answered with makes from behind the arc. Kazan cut the differential but PARMA led before the final quarter – 66:64.
Key moment
The game was won on last seconds. Moreover, it was quite dramatic. 7 seconds before the buzzer it seemed like the winner had been known. At that point Smit’s mid-range shot and made freethrows by Mantzaris gave UNICS lead back – 89:86. Furthermore, the “hottest” Kazan player Smith had to take two more free throws.
Guests’ guard made one of two and gave a chance to their opponent. Perm were very close to benefit from it. The last hosts’ possession included many actions. There were intentional foul by UNICS, intentionally missed free throw by Juskevicius. The desperate fight for rebound resulted in jump ball (PARMA took the possession) 0.3 seconds before the buzzer. Skilled inbound provoked Kazan to foul on Mejeris. As there were a 2-point lead (87:89) forward took charity stripe shots and made only first one.
Hero
Jamar Smith was UNICS best offensive player. He set his season-high – 31 points. Furthermore, in clutch he was cold-blooded and scored a few key points.
Stat
34 + 31 – For the first time this season two players scored 30+ points in a single game. 34 points by Adas Juskevicius are third best result this season, and 31 points by Jamar Smith – sixth.
Comments
PARMA’s head coach Kazys Maksvytis:
– We didn’t know if Lorenzo Williams could play, Tony Carr and Aleksandr Platunov are injured for unknown period of time, thus Adas Juskevicius and Nikoai Zhmako were playing point guards. Arnett Moultrie is removed from the roster by coaching staff because of discipline issues. I wish we won. I think we were controlling the game almost all game long. In the ending we should be more aggressive in defense.
UNICS’ head coach Dimitrios Priftis:
– Both teams deserved a win and the clutch proved it. We had a tough week: 2 days ago we played a tough game, then for 24 hours we were moving to Perm lacking preparation. We faced some problems during the game but still succeed and were lucky to end this game with a W.
Next
PARMA: 24 November at home against Avtodor
UNICS: 25 November at home against Zenit
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