In case you haven’t seen the standings for a while, that’s the right moment:
📊 Положение команд по итогам 10-й недели
📊 Standings after Week #10 pic.twitter.com/pgOooSC1ju
— VTB United League (@VTBUL) December 4, 2019
Enisey threw CSKA from the 2nd place. Zenit struggles to stay in playoff zone. How come? Here are the main events of week 10:
CSKA can’t beat UNICS since December 2017
Kazan held the game of the week. Despite all the pre-game predictions, UNICS downed CSKA who suffered 3rd loss this season already
CSKA dominated in the beginning: they were scoring and managed to fullfil the main defensive objective which was to close UNICS leader Errick McCollum who made his first shot by the buzzer of the first quarter.
But things turned around after the break. CSKA spent 3rd quarter trying to maintain control of the game, and finally faded in the final quarter as Jamar Smith finished the game with a highlight:
Having unstable defense this season, UNICS won the game in offense. The second quarter brought 58 points for Kazan, 32 of them in the 4th quarter! Errick McCollum was the hero of the night with 30 points (26 after the halftime), and 6 of 8 three-pointers!
Enisey climb to 2nd after win over Loko
Krasnoyarsk was just as amazing. Enisey got a historic victory over Lokomotiv-Kuban. Drazen Anzulovic’s side took the lead with the first possession and never let go.
Moreover, in the third quarter they were leading by 17 points – talk about homecourt confidence.
Lokomotiv-Kuban didn’t figure out how to handle two Enisey leaders. Davion Berry kept shooting from the perimeter repeating season’s best (7), and Dustin Hogue reigned in the paint (27 points and 7 offensive rebounds). The American duo scored 54 points.
The last time Enisey outplayed Lokomotiv-Kuban was 8 years ago, when Krasnoyarsk had Andrey Komarovskiy, Vyacheslav Zaytsev, Afik Nissim and Jasmin Hukic.
PARMA down Zenit for the first time in VTB League
The senstions kept going. In the last game, PARMA downed Zenit while Joan Plaza’s side hadn’t took a single lead within 40 minutes! Playing at home, in front of their own fans.
In the middle of the 4th quarter PARMA’s lead was 17 points, but Zenit kept fighting. Their bailout was to shoot threes in fast possessions. And it worked. If not for PARMA’s perfect free throws, Zenit could’ve showed the most epic comeback in United League history.
Artem Zabelin performs amazingly game after game. He was one of Perm’s best players with 19 points and 2 crucial three-pointers in the second half:
PARMA have got the first win over Zenit in 4 years of participation in United League. Plus it was their first away victory this season.
Tsmoki’s first win of the season
Minsk knows what bad luck is. They’ve lost 7 in a row, and in the last five games the margin was less than 6 points. Furthermore, season’s first game against Loko was lost in the final moments.
The first game of December happened to be a success. They beat Kalev – who were supposed to be a classic “home” team – on the road. Tsmoki were having +12 at some point, then let the Estonians come back, but still survived the trip. It seems that Aliaksei Trastinetski watched the highlights from Kazan and dropped the crucial three-pointer from the same point as Jamar Smith:
Khimki with season’s highest score
“Khimki had many worries about Nizhny Novgorod,” stated Rimas Kurtinaitis at the postgame interview. Well, with 26 points in the first quarter Nizhny really was something to worry about.
But NN couldn’t maintain the speed. Meanwhile, Khimki proved to have one of the League’s best offense. There was only one shot between the Yellow-blues and season’s scoring record. And still, 113 points is Khimki’s best in 2019/20. Plus, that’s their ninth game with 100 points surpassed.
Khimki still are ranked first and remain the only flawless team. And Nizhny have some changes ahead: Chavaughn Lewis has already left the team and, according to coach Lukic, Alec Brown might follow in his footsteps soon as he “hasn’t adapted to team’s reality”.
All-Star Game 2020 tickets available now
VTB United League All-Star Game official site was launched last Friday. The show will take place on February 16 at VTB Arena, Moscow. Tickets are available at the official site, Yandex.Afisha and the arena site.
Team of the week
