Week 1. Recap

Our web-site presents a summary review of the first week in the 2015/16 VTB United League regular season. We will highlight the most significant moments and the key performers.

The Event
Khimki prevail in a hard fought win over Avtodor (87:84).
This game was considered by many to be the highlight of the opening week-end. Both coaches Rimas Kurtinaitis and Brad Greenberg made it clear that winning the first game was important from the psychological standpoint. Their players seemed to be on board with that idea and both teams gave an inspired effort throughout the whole 40 minutes. Avtodor was ahead for the most part in the game, but Tyrese Rice was able to lead his team’s comeback late in the ballgame. Despite losing, a team from Saratov looked very good for 3 and a half quarters, so they should be optimistic about their tournament hopes as well.

The Fan

 

The Debut
Krasny Oktyabr defeated Vita in Tbilisi (110:67).
Big time basketball made a big time comeback to Tbilisi thanks to Georgia’s rejuvenated seven time champions. The party did not transfer over to the basketball floor for the Georgian team however, rather it was their opponent who provided us with the glimpse of Showtime hoops. Jajuan Johnson, D.J. Cooper and Tony Mitchell put on a show for the crowd, Cooper nearly missed a triple-double (9+9+11), Oktober’s playing team president spent six minutes on the floor and scored a career-high four points and also added 3 rebounds, while the team’s 57 boards is the second highest team total recorded in the history of the League.
Vita is still searching for their game, while Volgograd kicks the season off with a win and sets team record for the largest points margin.

The persistence  
Nizhny Novgorod defeated VEF in Riga (87:75).
Nizhny are considered one of the favorites while VEF is in the rebuilding mode, yet both teams are far from their best form at this time in the season. The Russian team could only get some separation in the fourth quarter after stepping up the defensive efforts. Another positive aspect for them is the play of Maksim Grigoriev, who led them in scoring, but had also had a good all-around game, finding open teammates, getting fouled and even blocking some shots. The negative facet of the game for Nizhny was Eric Maynor’s injury. No time table has been set for his recovery yet. As for the team from Riga, it’s clear that their young and hungry roster can cause problems to any team in the League.

The Progress
Nymbruk defeated Kalev (79:65).
Neither one of these teams has ever made it to the Play-offs, which they try to fix every year. The team from Estonia illustrated last year how to maximize the use of their resources to bring the fight to some of the League’s favorites. Games between teams of approximately the same level of ability usually become close contests, but it didn’t happen this time around. The home team got out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never let the intrigue back in the game.
Czech National team became one of the feel good stories of the EuroBasket 2015. So it is up to Nymbruk and their newest addition Michael Dickson to continue the pleasing of the Czech basketball fans with their play in the League. Basketball definitely is the game on the rise there.

The Number
196 - The amount of total points scored in the season opener between Enisey and Zenit (94:102).
16 – Number of points Enisey was leading by at the half. Vasily Karasev made the necessary adjustments, placing emphasis on defense and attacks from long distance. His team took the lead from Enisey in the 3rd quarter and ultimately started a season with a W.

The Quote
Aleksey Shved. Khimki’s guard.
Personally I didn’t have a good game, didn’t score form the field, but made all of my free throws. I didn’t feel any extra pressure because of the debut, but wasn’t able to play my game like I wanted too. It’s a good thing we won despite playing bad, that’s better than loosing after playing well.

The MVP

Tyrese Rice (Khimki). Rice led Khimki with a terrific effort to a comeback win over the surging Avtodor. Rice scored a cool thirty (9/13 FGs), and also added 4 assists, 2 boards and 3 steals.

The moment

The Photo