Zenit gifts Avtodor the lead, Shved and Grigonis took away the sensation from Enisey, Saburov and Chebatkov at the All-Star Game. Results of the last week of the year

Zenit gifts Avtodor the lead, Shved and Grigonis took away the sensation from Enisey, Saburov and Chebatkov at the All-Star Game. Results of the last week of the year

The key information about the final basketball week of 2021.

Zenit defeats UNICS and helps Avtodor

The game of the two top teams of the League ended the year of 2021. But both teams were unable to use their strongest rosters: Zenit was missing Jordan Mickey, and UNICS lost John Brown III and Tonye Jekiri just before the game.

UNICS losses became a little more serious – without their two bigmen, the Kazan team no longer showed such a strong defense, letting opponents score 57 points in half.

Billy Baron was Zenit’s offensive leader. By the halftime, the sniper had already scored 18 points, but at the same time he was dangerous not only on the 3-point line, but also in the paint:

UNICS, loosing by 9, had enough 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter to Roget back the draw on the scoreboard and even go ahead…

But this run almost became the only one performed by the Kazan team in the game. Zenit looked more powerful and was building up thelead every minute. As a result, the St. Petersburg team stopped in 1shot from a 100, winning against UNICS with a 16-points lead – 97:81.

And Billy Baron made the best gift for the New Year, updating his personal career high in points: 27 points, 8 of 14 from the field and 6 of 11 3-pointers.

Despite the win, Zenit could not return to the Top-3 in the standings, passing CSKA ahead in individual stats. But the St. Petersburg team certainly pleased Avtodor , who will start 2022 on the 1st place.

CSKA beats Enisey in 1 quarter

In the pre-game layouts, the Krasnoyarsk team definitely could not be envied. Firstly, they have only beaten the Army team once in the entire history of the rivalry history, and even then on their court. Secondly, CSKA has not lost at home this season yet and planned to end the year with a win.

And the Moscow team started really powerfully: they started with a 10-3 run, defended effectively and attacked just as effectively.

ButEnisey managed to rectify the situation and draw the score already in the 1st quarter. And by the halftime, the guests was ahead. Casper Ware – Darral Willis duo made this possible. Enisey legionnaires scored 32 points in the 1st half, successfully acting together: Casper intimidated CSKA defense from the perimeter,Darral felt comfortable in the opponent’s paint.

The Moscow team were slightly encouraged by the Will Clyburn drive at the end of the 2nd quarter:

But even after the half-time, CSKA spent a long time to get the guests. In many ways, this was prevented by the new Enisey bigman James Thompson – the American worked on both sides of the court, allowing his team to increase the lead to 5 points before the last quarter.

But the Army team managed to turn the situation around in just a quarter.Their snipers helped a lot, they scored 6 3-pointers in 10 minutes – almost as many as in the previous 3 quarters. 2 long-range shots was made by Alexey Shved,  from Iffe Lundberg.  But the key player of the game ending was Marius Grigonis: 3 threes in the 4th quarter and 5/5 from deep in the game!

This win allow CSKA to save the place in the Top-3. But Enisey is outside the playoff zone, losing the 8th place to Kalev.

Hill updates the season high, PARMA catches up with Loko and Nizhny

However, Enisey could stay in the Top-8 if they win PARMA a few days earlier. But, as in the game with CSKA, the Siberian team spent only one unsuccessful quarter – and that was enough to lose at home.

The guests, exhausted by 3 overtimes with Astana, could not compete for a long time, but after the half-time they still found the keys to Enisey defense: in 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter they scored 7 3-pointers, breaking away immediately by 20 points! Adas Jushkevicius was the leading force of this run, he scored 4 4-pointers:

Even despite the extremely non-resultative 4th quarter, PARMA got the win and it help the team to get closer to Loko and Nizhny Novgorod. And the Perm team guard Jeremiah Hill updated the season high for assists in one game – 13 assists in a game with Ensiey.

Poster of the week

Or not a poster?

New hosts of the All-Star Game

On Sunday, before the final games of the year, the League held a studio in which Nikita Zagday, Andrey Maltsev and Dmitriy Kolinov summed up the results of 2021.

During the show, the names of the new hosts of the All-Star Game 2022 were announced –  popular Stand-Up comedians Nurlan Saburov and Evgeniy Chebatkov!

You can buy tickets for the 6th All-Star Game in the history on the website https://tickets.vtb-league.com/.

Team of the Week

Billy Baron updated the career high in points against UNICS, and Alex Poythress was the most effective in this game.
Bigmen duo Mareks Mejeris – Artsiyom Parakhouski led PARMA to the win over Enisey.
Alexey Shved became the most effective in the Army team in the game with Enisey, making important shots in the 4th quarter.

Top Plays of the Week