Week in review: Pashutin’s Loko still unbeaten, Enisey back to top 5, Khimki thriller

That’s what week 19 was like.

Loko still unbeaten with Pashutin

The game of the week was played in Krasnodar. Zenit had to improve their ranking, so they started with energy and were 10 points ahead in the second quarter. Kuban committed turnover after turnover and couldn’t find their rhythm. Meanwhile, Joan Plaza’s side showed some proper offense in the first half:

Coach Pashutin had a talk with his players during the break. “We agreed we had no chance to win playing like that. We had to get back to our defensive philosophy: give intensity, not let them make open shots,” as qouted by R-Sport.

The second half was really different: less turnovers, aggressive defense. Zenit’s control faded away, and Loko’s 15-0 run gave them the lead (first since mid first quarter):

Zenit was knocked down and couldn’t find away to break Krasnodar defense thus the fourth consecutive loss. At the same time Loko win 8th in a row, still unbeaten under Evgeny Pashutin.

Johnny O’Bryant led Loko in the Game of the week. The center’s stats are a double-double and no.1 in efficiency points.

Khimki and Nizhny filmed a thriller

Nizhny is one of the most challenging middle-class team for Khimki. They won 6 of 16 and this Monday were close to get another one. The Yellow-blues attempted to run away, but Zoran Lukic’s guys would catch them everytime.

Worth mentioning that the Serbian coach gave minutes to young Russian players and they proved to be ready to play big basketball. Aleksandr Chadov did not hesitate to dunk over Alexey Shved:

However, Alexey Shved and Devin Booker were the heroes of the night. The duo scored 51 points and got the 16th win for Khimki.

UNICS shows best defense this season

UNICS were confident beating Tsmoki at home. Dimitris Priftis’ side showed their best defense this season allowing 71 points only.

Valerii Likhodey was the top scorer of the night. The forward had scored 16 points by the halftime break already, renewing his season best. His final result was 19 points.

The best sniper for the Belarusian team was Branko Mirkovic with 20 points. The guard showed a preview of what he’s going to do at the All-Star’s three-pointer contest:

Zielona breaks home losing streak

Believe it or not, Zielona Gora – being a contender for the playoff spot – is better away than home. They had won only 2 of 8 home games prior to last round, while their away record is 4-4. The last time Gora’s fans were happy was mid December’s comeback against Tsmoki and the OT win.

Zielona Gora broke the 4-games losing streak when they met Avtodor. It was an intense game: Saratov with 6 lost in a row tried to improve the situation under a new head coach Donaldas Kairys. This game saw 6 equalizers, 10 lead changes, but eventually the hosts took it.

CSKA beat Astana, keep on winning track

Kazakhstan team have been trying to down CSKA for 9 seasons now, but found no luck. Prior to this game, the team’s rivalry record was 19-0. This Monday, Nur-Sultan saw no. 20.

Astana were maintaing a fair competion with a reigning champions in the first quarter. Later, however, they could not maintain the tempo and past through the guests’ defense. CSKA got their 14th win this season and secured 2nd place in the standings.

Mike James led CSKA with 27 points in less than 20 minutes matching his season best in VTB League.

Enisey’s first win in 2020

Enisey were bright in the beginning of the season, but later slowed down and were unstable after the New year (had lost all 5 in 2020). Kalev was supposed to be a tough challenge as well. First, Tallinn found their pace: last week, they downed Zenit away. Second, Davion Berry and Chavaughn Lewis could not help Enisey this time. Neither did the stat favor Drazen Anzulovic: Kalev hadn’t lost a single game against Krasnoyarsk since February 2017.

And it really was the struggle for Enisey during the first half. Kalev found their 3-point spots, even with balls like these sinking:

But the guests slowed down even before the halftime. And after the break the defense ensured Enisey’s long-awaited victory. Krasnoyarsk showed perfect defense: 73 points allowed, their second best this season. It’s curious that Enisey’s no.1 defense this season was against CSKA (71 points allowed).

Evgeny Pashutin and Rimas Kurtinaitis named All-Star coaches

VTB League nominated the All-Star coaches. Russia Stars will be led by Evgeny Pashutin, while Rimas Kurtinaitis will take over the World Stars.

Loko under Pashutin won 8 consecutive games and levelled with CSKA ranked 2nd. Khimki of Rimas Kurtinaitis are the best in the regular season with 16-1 record.

League introduces All-Star Legend Cards

One of the features brought by 2020 All-Star Game is Legend Card. It pays a tribute to League’s most honored and experienced player and allows them to participate in the evenet. Khimki’s Sergey Monia joins Russia Stars, and Kyle Hines of CSKA will help World Stars.

Vitaly Fridzon to defend the sniper’s title at All-Star

Three-pointer contest participants were announced last week. The regining champion Vitaly Fridzon (Loko) will face Branko Mirkovic (Tsmoki-Minsk), Malcolm Hill (Astana) and Maksim Grigoryev (PARMA).

Who’s to win the dunk contest?

Dunk contest participants were also announced. Austin Hollins (Zenit), Anton Astapkovich (Nizhny Novgorod), Aleksandr Petenev (Avtodor) and Maksim Marchuk (Astana) will compete for the title.

Weekly Top 10

Marcel Ponitka’s and one, Malcolm Hill and Aleksandr Gankevich flying in weekly highlights.

Team of the week

Standings

Enisey back to top 5, Zielona Gora back to playoff zone!