By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
Another intense weekend in VTB League is now history, with lots of action from the playoffs hunting zone, triple-double alerts and a new habitat on the league’s top spot in the standings!
MVP
Codi Miller-McIntyre – PARMA
Miller-McIntyre’s triple-double, the first in VTB League in three years, pushed Parma against Enisey and sealed an important win for the team in the battle of the playoffs. The player has been close to achieving it before, missing out by a single rebound in a December game against VEF (13 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds). His performance of 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists rightfully names him the MVP of the week.
Enjoy his highlights:
CSKA back on top
It took the Army Team a few weeks to return on top of the standings, given UNICS’ amazing season so far, though in their Monday battle, things took a turn. The Kazan side, that hasn’t lost a game since December 10 (against CSKA), now falls to the second place, after its 80-63 loss in Moscow. Notably, Othello Hunter paced his team with a season-high for him in the VTB League of 14 points (86% FG).
Lokomotiv ends its four-game losing streak
Despite Dmitry Kulagin’s absence, Loko got the job done and slipped away with a narrow win against Astana at home. Joe Ragland took charge for the Krasnodar side, with a new career-high of 29 points (4 out of 5 three-pointer), five assists and just one turnover. The winners now enjoy the third spot of the standings and can rest assured that they have secured a strong place in the playoffs.
VEF shakes up the standings
The Latvian team beat Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday and replaced them in the 8th spot of the standings, pushing the Novgorod side one spot below. The two teams are amongst the top candidates for a spot in the post-season, though the verdict of their recent battle was in VEF’s favour. Thanks to Alex Perez’s 27-points, the hosts held back Nizhny’s final quarter outburst and sealed a key victory.
No Shved, no problem for Khimki
Georgios Bartzokas had to rest Alexey Shved due to an irritation to his ankle, though Khimki faced absolutely no problem against Kalev and took revenge for its January road loss. Charles Jenkins put on a show with 28 points, achieving a new personal-best. He also executed seven from the three-point line, along with six assists. An overall bright performance that placed Khimki to the sixth spot of the standings.
Photo credit: VTB League on Flickr