Basketball is back – the newUnited League season first week flew quickly and unnoticed. The main thing about the start of the 2021/22 season:
Browns duo saves UNICS in the opening game against Loko. Kazan team has two wins out of two
The season started with a game in Kazan. And if it did not exceed all expectations, then at least justified it – hardly anyone could have predicted that the game between UNICS and Loko would take place exactly according to such an unpredictable scenario.
Lokomotiv-Kuban, which was not considered the favorite of the game, already created a double-digit advantage in the first quarter, and by the end of the first half they lead by 17. Moreover, if in the first quarter the UNICS rim was attacked by the legionnaire trio Kidd-Motley-Thompson, then Andrey Martyuk became the star of the second 10 minutes. The 21-year-old forward scored 10 points in the first half, worked in defense, blocking Tonye Jekiri shot, and hit the highlights with his poster over Evgeniy Valiev:
During the game, Kazan team trailed by 21 points, but surprisingly cameback by the end of the 3rd quarter. Andrey Vorontsevich was the headliner of the comeback – his three-pointers that woke UNICS up:
But the key players of the first season game were Browns duo – Lorenzo and John. They scored 37 points for two, 22 of which were in the fourth quarter. By the way, both Browns ended up in the All-VTB United League Team of the Week.
After a hard game against Loko, the game against Zielona Gora turned out to be not so difficult for UNICS. Kazan had the initiative for all 40 minutes, confidently won the Green Derby (92:63), and the most memorable moment was Mario Hezonja reverse dunk:
CSKA has 2 wins in 4 days – Dimitris Itoudis doesn’t even have anything to complain about
Unlike UNICS, the VTB League champion’s calendar in the first week of the season turned out to be easier. Yes, Zielona Gora also became one of CSKA’s rivals, but instead of Loko, CSKA met with Tsmoki.
Both games did not follow the same scenario: the Polish team fought for 3 quarters and surrendered only in the 4, while the Belarussian champion gave the advantage to the opponent from the game start. However, the games ended the same way – with major CSKA wins. The Army team scored 92 points in Minsk, scored the first hundred against Zielona Gora and showed that they have no problems with the motivation.
CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis also spoke positively about his players’ performance: “In general, I am satisfied. We were focused and serious, so congratulations to the team”, “Bravo and congratulations to the team”.
Performance of the Week
Zenit beat Kalev in their first game of the season, and took this win in a defensive style — the Estonian champion barely reached the 60 points mark in 40 minutes.
Zenit, however, did not do everything ideal in the offence. This is partly due to the loss of another point guard: Conner Frankamp was injured at the very start of the game. Fortunately, the injury was not serious, and the guard will soon return to the squad.
Jordan Mickey became the leader of the team. In his first game for Zenit, the forward refreshed his career high in the League and scored a double-double – 27 points and 10 rebounds. Also, the forward became the most valuable player of the game with 34 eff. points.
Opening of the week
Loko lost, but left a pleasant impression about itself – after all, several young players got a chance to prove themselves. And one of them did it for sure: Andrey Martyuk got his personal best in the VTB League and sent John Brown III to the poster.
The 21-year-old forward was literally two points left to becoming the most valuable player in his team. As a result, Martyuk scored 16 points (6/7 from the field), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 19 eff. points.
Fan of the Week
Kazan was very pleased with the UNICS comeback in the game against Loko:
Mood in Kazan after 21-points comeback: pic.twitter.com/M9yo0pQobW
— VTB League (@VTBUL) September 23, 2021
Dunk of the Week
John Brown III took off over Loko rim and made an excellent request to participation at the All-Star Game 2022 Dunk Contest:
Numbers of the week
105 – CSKA in the first week set a high bar for performance in one game, scoring more than a hundred in the game against Zielona Gora. Who will repeat and beat this score and how quickly?
Team of the Week
John Brown III and Lorenzo Brown led UNICS to two wins in two games at the start of the season. Lorenzo is the best in the team in points (17.0) and assists (4.5), John – in rebounds (9.5).
Nikola Milutinov and Iffe Lundberg helped CSKA successfully start the season. Nikola averaged 12.5 points and 7 rebounds per game and Iffe scored his first double-double as a member of the Army team- and even against his former team Zielona Gora.
Zenit forward Jordan Mckey played his best game in the United League: 27 points, 10 rebounds and 5 three-pointers scored against Kalev.
Top plays of the week
