UNICS Kazan beat Zielona Gora in the regular season game – 92:63 (22-21, 25-18, 21-11, 24-13).
The best scorers
UNICS: Mario Hezonja (15 + 9 rebounds), Artem Klimenko (14 + 7 rebounds), Isiah Canaan (12), Lorenzo Brown (12).
Zielona Gora: Nemanja Nenadic (13), Dragan Apic (11), David Brembly (9 + 6 rebounds).
Game progress
The two teams associated with the green color started the new season in different ways: UNICS won Lokomotiv-Kuban, Zielona Gora lost to CSKA. The favorite started with a 7:2, but the Poles responded with a series of effective offencive possessions performed by Devoe Joseph.
The first quarter was held in an equal battle, but at the end the Kazan team seized the initiative due to the depth of the roster and the high pace maintained. The active Lorenzo Brown was picked up by teammates in the leaders role of Marco Spissu and Isiah Canaan, who provoked several violations and regularly shot free-throws. And when John Brown also supported his teammates at the start of the second 10 minutes, the Kazan team made a 12-3 run and created a double-digit advantage for the first time in the game. UNICS realized 53% of the game, controlled the rebound and worked confidently in the paint, leading 47: 39 at the end of the first half.
The key moment
Zielona Gora was not able to change the game in the second half. UNICS made a decisive run in the middle of the third quarter, when Andrey Vorontsevich first scored from behind the arc, and then realized two fouls. Thanks to the efforts of Tonye Jekiri, the Kazan team soon brought the gap to the +20 and by the end of the game only increased the final score difference.
Hero
Mario Hezojna. The star forward became not only the most valuable today, but showed all the versatility of his talent with his ability to compete for the rebound. The Croatian has 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Hezonja also has the highest efficiency among all the players of the game – 24 eff. points.
Numbers
5 – so many players in UNICS team 10 or more points.
Comments
Oliver Vidin, Zielona Gora Head Coach:
– We looked solid in the first half, especially in the first quarter. However, in the second half we lacked energy and concentration. The opponent took advantage of this and achieved a big difference in the score. I think this is the main reason for our defeat. Two days ago we played in Moscow against CSKA, where we left a lot of strengths. It is impossible to hold two games at a high level in 48 hours against such strong teams using a roster of 7-8 players. In addition, today we missed a lot of open shots from the game and free throws, which also affected the final result.
Velimir Perasovic, UNICS Head Coach:
– I think we got a very good game. Especially in the second half, when we showed great energy and played great defense. We stopped Zielona Gora’s offencive abilities at the mark of 24 points scored in 20 minutes, which was our goal.
We have three bigmen in our team, and it’s not always easy to find a place for all of them on the court. Of course, Klimenko pleasantly surprised me with his performance. He is an important player for me and showed very good basketball today. Artem works hard in scrommages and he will still have the opportunity to prove himself in the future. I think Mario Hezojna played his best game in the UNICS team so far today. I am happy with the way he acted, especially in offence. Mario gave a lot of passes, played for the team. For some reason, everyone expects Hezonja to score 25 points per game, but let’s be realistic – he can be good in other aspects of the game.
What’s next
UNICS: road game versus Enisey on October 17,
Zielona Gora: road game against Astana on October 16,
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