Zenit’s best start, CSKA’s workshops, heroic Juskevicius and Keene. Week in review

Zenit’s best start, CSKA’s workshops, heroic Juskevicius and Keene. Week in review

As daylight hours are getting shorter, basketball is getting bigger. The first games of 2020 winter in United League were played and it feels like this December is going to be hot.

Zenit started with 7:0 which is the best result in club’s history

After 2 months of this season, Zenit remains the only undefeated team. Last Sunday, St. Petersburg hosted UNICS who were ready to bring the first upset to Xavi Pascual. In the second quarter, Kazan almost twiced the points of their opponents – 40:21.

However, by the halftime break Zenit had chased them down and made a real comeback in the second half. Petersburg came back from down by 19 points, led by Mateusz Ponitka. Zenit’s Polish captain made a series of successful possessions in the 2nd quarter and became the top scorer of the night (23 points) supported by no. 1 result in efficiency points (28). The guard couldn’t make a bad shot with 7 of 7 field goals.

Obviously, Mateusz Ponitka was named that game’s MVP. But Zenit’s head coach Xavi Pascual noted another player: “I’m really glad with Vladislav Trushkin, he changed the game tonight. He gave us calm and energy that we lacked. He was accurate in positioning and decision-making. He didn’t have many minutes lately, but tonight he definitely used them.”

That was Trushkin who made 2 three-pointers to start Zenit’s 19-point comeback.

Zenit won 7 games in a row which repeats their best start (in 2015/16 season the team started with 7-0). The next win could be a record for Zenit. However, it’s not going to be easy as they’ll face Loko.

PARMA’s historic win over Loko

PARMA is the youngest United League club with only 8-year history. It comes as no surprise that even at their 5th season they’re still writing club history. This weekend PARMA downed Lokomotiv-Kuban at home.

The hosts dictated the first half of that game leading by 9 points. But after the break Loko came with new energy: Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored 17 in the 3rd quarter and Kuban nearly took the lead.

MVP award was given to the Lithuanian, but not from Loko. PARMA’s point guard Adas Juskevicius played his best game this season and his 33 points helped Perm secure the win:

PARMA broke 3-game losing streak and are ranked 6th (with UNICS).

Nizhny shows defense in Nur-Sultan, scores 20 000 points and ensures 2nd place

Nizhny arrived in Kazakhstan withouth their main center Alexandre Gavrilovic, but it didn’t stop them from getting the 4th season win.

We already noted that Astana should work on defense, and so they did. They made NN scored 8 less than average (79 vs 87). But Nizhny also showed their defense so that Astana didn’t even get to 70 points.

Nizhny Novgorod grabbed the 4th season win in Nur-Sultan and are still ranked 2nd. Moreover, during the game in Kazakhstan, NN overpassed the historic mark of 20 thousand points. Zoran Lukic’s side became the 5th League time to reach that level joining CSKA, UNICS, Loko and Khimki.

CSKA 2 high class games, Shengelia’s top performance

The Army club played twice this week: away game vs Tsmoki and home vs Zielona Gora. Both times Dimitris Itoudis’ side grabbed big wins. And both games followed almost the same script.

In Minsk, CSKA took time struggling with Tsmoki: Maksim Salash led the hosts with 20 points scored by the halftime, and the Dragons were 1 point ahead – 47:46.

It seems like 15-minute break was used for a serious talk in CSKA locker, and their attitude in the second half was totally different. With their signature defense, CSKA left no chance to Minsk and won by 27 points.

Two days later, the Army club hosted Zielona Gora. The guests were destroyed by 13 points in the first quarter, but the second showed their comeback and a real shootout. The teams made 10 three-pointers in 10 minutes:

But just like in Minsk, after the break CSKA were way ahead of the opponents. Having hit their 3rd hundred this season, the hosts celebrated the 7th win this season.

Tornike Shengelia showed his best performance for CSKA: almost flawless shots (8 of 9), team’s top scorer (18), and most efficient (23).

 

Zielona Gora chasing the 8th place

Loss from CSKA made victorious trip to Krasnoyarsk fade. Zan Tabak’s side dominated the game against Enisey – 94:73 – and were two shots away from team’s biggest win (22 points against Kalev in January 2020).

Zielona Gora’s start was not the greatest, but now they are one place away from the playoff. And after Enisey, the Polish shared 8th place with Khimki losing only by tie break rules!

Travel

Cecil Willaims forgot that the opponents had only 1 free throw. And then it was too late:

Marcus Keene brought the first win for Kalev

This round ended with two teams longing for win – Kalev vs Tsmoki. The Estonians build 14-point lead in the first half, but Minsk came back by the big break and ran away afterwards:

The 4th quarter started with Tsmoki’s comfortable +9, but it didn’t bother Marcus Keene. Kalev’s guard came up with 3 threes in a row, remained silent for most part of the period to end the game with another distance shot which turned out to be a game winner. Keene was the hero of the night and brought season’s first win for Kalev.

But Marcus Keene was not the only arm of Kalev. Janari Joesaar found the right time to come back from Spain. 2019 All-Star Game participant scored 19 points and 8 rebounds.

Team of the week

Standings