By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
We had two VTB League classic derbies this Week with the visiting teams emerging triumphant, getting victories that allows them certain rights in the standings.
Lokomotiv Kuban downed Unics Kazan to secure a spot among the Top 4, while Zenit St. Petersburg outplayed Khimki Moscow and has a clear advantage for second place in the regular season.
Meanwhile, the defending champs put their flag at the peak of the standings by overpowering Tsmoki Minsk at home and got homecourt for the entire stretch of the postseason.
The battle for the postseason is reaching its end with Astana getting closer to fulfilling its playoff hopes… unless Avtodor Saratov pulls something close to a miracle in the remaining matches.
MVP of the Week: Sergey Karasev (Zenit St. Petersburg)
“Sergey made buckets”. Again. This time the Russian swingman brought down the defenses of Khimki Moscow with 23 points, while also pitching in 5 rebounds plus 3 assists and being unstoppable enough to draw 6 fouls from his opponents. It was a key battle for the second place and Zenit prevailed thanks to Karasev’s offensive handiwork.
Best Five of the Week:
Kenny Boynton (Nizhny Novgorod)
Nizhny Novgorod mathematically lost its chances to advance in the playoffs since it needed to beat Astana by 10 points minimum. The victory came, but not the desired margin, despite Kenny Boynton’s top notch efforts: 17 points, 9 assists and only 3 turnovers in the 40 (!) minutes the American guard spent on the floor, a testament of how precious his presence was for his team.
Taylor Rochestie (Lokomotiv Kuban)
One of his best games in the season so far arrived at a timely manner for Lokomotiv Kuban. With contribution in scoring (14) and creation (8 assists), Rochestie caused all sorts of trouble Unics helping his team get the win that locks them among the Top-Four of the regular season. The best part of his statline? Absolutely no turnovers at all.
Sergey Karasev (Zenit St. Petersburg)
When the demand for baskets is hot, Sergey will be there to deliver them.
Frank Elegar (Enisey)
The VTB double-double master finished his 20th (!) game in the league with double figures in both points and rebounds, scoring 13 and getting 11 boards to help Enisey down VEF Riga. His physical game caused a lot of problems to his opponents and thanks to this win, the team from Krasnoyark clinched the sixth spot in the standings for the regular season.
Ian Vougioukas (Lokomotiv Kuban)
The Greek center has been in excellent shape recently and showed once more in the match vs Unics Kazan. He ruled the area inside the paint with 21 points (on 9/13 from the field) but he also created for his teammates finishing with 4 assists. All these against the Artsiom Parakhouski and Latavious Williams, one of the top “5” duos in the league.
Coach of the Week: Sasa Obradovic (Lokomotiv Kuban)
Lokomotiv Kuban beat an Unics Kazan that looked rather dangerous, arriving from a blowout victory in EuroLeague over Olimpia in Milano. Yet coach Obradovic and his guys prevailed, mathematically locking fourth place in the standings and now aiming for third.
Obradovic used most of his players to a great extent, implementing large rotation to tire his opponents that had a road game on Friday. The more the game progressed the more Loko increased its offensive rhythm beginning to build a solid lead at the right time and preserving it successfully enough to not allow Unics react.
The Last Word: The image of the playoffs is getting more and more clear
CSKA Moscow is first and nothing will change that while Zenit St. Petersburg is the big favorite to finish second and look determined enough to not make any gifts in the remaining games. While Khimki Moscow and Lokomotiv Kuban will fight for the third place, Unics Kazan is a “lock” on the fifth spot, same as Enisey for the sixth. Meanwhile, VEF Riga will most likely finish seventh and Astana appears to have the upper hand for the eighth spot, unless something groundbreaking happens in the remaining matches and Avtodor Saratov “steals” them the last spot for the postseason.
For this to happen, the team from Saratov needs a 3/3 and the Kazakhs to finish the last stretch winless. Despite Astana’s difficult schedule (they play Unics on the road and host Khimki) it will be a bit surprising if they don’t jump aboard the train that leads to the playoffs.