By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
No better antidote for the below-zero temperatures brought by the cold entrance of 2017 than the steaming hot action found in the courts of VTB United League.
The first set of games of the new year was characterized by some… immensely fiery shooting. From where to start? Well how about the scoring festival that took place in St. Petersburg were local Zenit battled Khimki and both teams were combined for 224 (!) points. The most prolific game of the season, excluding matches that were decided on overtime.
A bit southern and in Krasnodar, Lokomotiv Kuban went…. Loco from beyond the arc: 9/11 three-pointers to beat Unics Kazan, along with some exceptional defenses on key weapons that coach Evgeny Pashutin employs.
But as you can see below, star-performances and high-scoring situations, were also found in other games as well. Astana remains the pleasant surprise of the league, now beating Nizhny Novgorod and Avtodor Saratov didn’t allow Parma to catch a break… “killing” their hopes for their first victory in the league in overtime.
The MVP: Sergey Karasev (Zenit St. Petersburg)
This folks is how a player produces a career-night. Well, until the next one at least because let’s not forget that Sergey Karasev is only 23 years old. The Russian swingman was a brutally unstoppable force against Khimki Moscow, dropping 30 points (on 5/7 two-pointers, 7/10 from beyond the arc), grabbing 5 rebounds, sending out 4 assists to his teammates and stealing the ball thrice from his opponents. Rumors that the latter were mumbling “Resistance is futile” are yet to be confirmed.
Best Five of the Week:
- Alexey Shved (Khimki Moscow): The co-star in the “Russian showdown” for the ages that took place between Zenit and Khimki. He finished the match with 29 points, 6 assists and frustrated everyone that try to guard him enough to win 8 fouls. Alas, this super performance wasn’t enough to bring victory to Khimki since its hosts’ hyper offense couldn’t be denied.
- Sergey Karasev (Zenit St. Petersburg): One of the games that he’ll tell his grandchildren as a bedtime story.
- Roderick Odom (Astana): The top performer in Astana’s win over Nizhny Novgorod. In a game where his team had no small amount of defensive troubles and needed to outscore the Russian squad, Odom stood out and dropped 15 points, grabbed 5 rebounds plus stealing the ball twice from his opponents.
- Kevin Jones (Lokomotiv Kuban): While his teammates were hitting one three-pointer after the other, Jones rendered Unics Kazan’s usually dangerous big guys almost harmless. But apart from giving a strong helping hand on defense, he was Loko’s top scorer with 15 points while getting 6 boards.
- Vince Hunter (Avtodor Saratov): Quite possibly his best game since he arrived in Saratov, considering the difficulty the opponent posed (perhaps surprisingly) and, subsequently, a possible newly-found importance of the win But not only, since numbers do the talking as well: A powerful double-double consisted of 20 points and 10 rebounds plus no less than 9 (!) fouls won.
Coach of the Week: Sasa Obradovic (Lokomotiv Kuban)
Lokomotiv Kuban completely shut down one of the most potent offensive teams in VTB League. Unics Kazan averaged almost 91 points per game before the match in Krasnodar but against Obradovic‘s iron defense this number severely dropped to 64. The pressure on scoring titan Keith Langford worked since he shot 4/11 from the field, Quino Colom’s creation was almost erased (only 4 assists from a guy who averages 7.5 per game) and Lokomotiv Kuban got another victory over a EuroLeague team of the championship, after the one vs CSKA Moscow.
The Last Word: An early All-Star Game
How do we envy the fans that were present in “Yubileyny Sports Palace” for the VTB United League derby between Zenit St. Petersburg and Khimki Moscow! They watched two great offensive teams ignoring the term “defense”, preferring to let their rich scoring talent fully unfold on court. While the two coaches weren’t probably happy seeing their players not making any stops (especially Dusko Ivanovic who said that “this was Zenit’s game, not ours), this match was a spectacle to behold for any basketball lover.