UNICS beat Zielona Gora at home in quarterfinals game 1 – 87:60 (24:16, 22:9, 22:19, 19:16).
Top scorers
UNICS: Okaro White (23 + 5 rebounds), Isaiah Canaan (11 + 6 rebounds), John Holland (10 + 5 assists).
Zielona Gora: Kris Richard (11), Janis Berzins (10 + 10 rebounds).
Story
After PARMA, Zielona Gora was another VTB League playoff debutant. The Polish club was one of the major discoveries of the season. The visitors came to Kazan determined to fight for victory against the more titled UNICS.
The game’s nervous nature showed from the opening minutes. The teams were careful and didn’t force the pace. Between them, the opponents scored only 7 points in a half of the quarter. It was the home team who stepped up first. They caught their rhythm in the game, made several three-pointers and moved quickly from defense to offense. UNICS, led by Okaro White, was moving quickly on the breakaway. They took the quarter with 8-point lead, 24-16.
The second half was dominated by the UNICS defense. The visitors scored only 9 points in one quarter. By halftime, however, Zielona Gora already had 13 turnovers (UNICS had only four). Kazan regularly punished their opponent for their lapses on offense: nearly half of their total points came after their opponent’s mistakes. With that kind of situation, it’s no wonder the home team’s lead in the first half reached the +21 mark, 46-25.
After the break, the visitors finally started hitting from distance. That wasn’t enough for a comeback, however. On top of that, Okaro White was on fire for UNICS. In 10 minutes of the third quarter, the forward scored 12 points and tied his personal best. The home team’s lead grew even larger, 68-44.
In fact, the final 10 minutes was a formality. UNICS confidently controlled the game, leaving no doubt about their win. Kazan had a solid start to the playoffs, confirming their status as one of the top contenders in the tournament.
Hero
Okaro White had a perfect game. The forward set new career-high in points (23), efficiency (27) and made threes (3).
Stat
5 – number of John Brown’s III steals, season-high repeat. Recall, UNICS forward was named Defensive Player of The Year.
Comments
UNICS head coach Dimitrios Priftis:
– First of all I want to say that the players were very serious. We approached the game with the right attitude, with energy, played intensely. Of course, Zielona Gora is different without Iffe Lundberg, and I would say without Marcel Ponitka as well. They found replacements for those players, but it’s different, it’s a different level. And I think that’s part of the truth of this game. Because they had a terrific regular season, and those two losses were fundamental for them. Tomorrow we leave for Zielona Gora, where hopefully we’ll have a similar game.
Zielona Gora head coach Zan Tabak:
– It was a really hard game for us. We knew that it would be difficult to cope physically with UNICS and their aggressiveness. We gave our opponent 34 points after our 23 turnovers – that characterized the whole game.
Next
Game 2 takes place on May 14 in Zielona Gora.
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