By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
UNICS Kazan kicked off the VTB United League week yesterday (9/2) with a win over Tsomki-Minsk while earlier today (10/2), CSKA Moscow got a comfortable win against Astana on the road.
Zielona Gora got past Saratov and Enisey past Kalev/Cramo while to close this week’s action, Zenit and Lokomotiv kept going separate paths with the latter getting the win while Khimki survived Nizhny Novgorod’s threat.
Khimki keeps feisty Nizhny Novgorod at bay
Devin Booker and Alexey Shved were once again the protagonists in Khimki’s victory by banking 27 and 24 points respectively. Shved went for a double-double, dishing 13 assists as well.
Nizhny grabbed an 87-84 lead midway through the fourth quarter but Khimki didn’t allow them to go any further by scoring seven straight points which were enough to push them to a 98-94 win.
Jonas Jerebko helped with 15 and Sergey Monia with 11 points. For Nizhny, Brandon Brown scored 24 followed by Anton Astapkovich with 17 and Pavel Antipov with 12 points.
Khimki stayed at the top with a 16-1 record while Nizhny is one win behind the teams inside the playoff zone, standing at the tenth spot with 6-10.
Lokomotiv continues winning, Zenit continues losing
Zenit almost succeeded in bouncing back from a five-game skid in all competitions but with the score 63-62 at the five-minute mark, Johnny O’Bryant and Mindaugas Kuzminskas drained two shots from deep to spark Lokomotiv’s 13-2 run which propelled them to a 78-70 victory, eighth straight in VTB.
O’Bryant and Kuzminskas finished the game with 20 points each while Alan Williams added 16. Williams and O’Bryant also grabbed 11 rebounds each.
For Zenit, which stayed outside the playoff zone with a 6-10 record, Andrey Zubkov and Will Thomas scored 11 each. Lokomotiv, on the other hand, kept the momentum and the third spot while being tied with CSKA in front of them with 13-4 records.
Zielona Gora steps into the playoff zone
Joe Thomasson scored 19 points for Stelmet Zielona Gora while Ivica Radic notched a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds as they led their squad to a 98-91 home win against Avtodor Saratov.
This win improved the team’s record to 7-10 which puts them temporarily inside the playoff zone at the eighth spot. However, they’ve played more games than the teams that are chasing behind them – Astana (6-9), Nizhny Novgorod (6-10), Zenit (6-10).
VTB Weekly results and scorers
UNICS – Tsmoki 85-71 (Likhodey 19 – Mirkovic 20)
Zielona Gora – Saratov 98-91 (Thomasson 19 – Jaiteh 18)
Enisey – Kalev/Cramo 86-73 (Green 17 – Skele 14)
Astana – CSKA 72-95 (Ristic 18 – James 27)
Lokomotiv – Zenit 78-70 (O’Bryant 20 – Zubkov 11)
Khimki – Nizhny 98-94 (Booker 27 – Brown 24)
VTB Standings
1. Khimki 16-1
2. CSKA 13-4
3. Lokomotiv 13-4
4. UNICS 10-6
5. PARMA 7-9
6. Enisey 7-9
7. Kalev/Cramo 7-9
8. Zielona Gora 7-10
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9. Astana (6-9)
10. Nizhny (6-10)
11. Zenit (6-10)
12. Saratov (4-12)
13. Tsmoki (4-13)
Photo Credit: VTB United League