How Zenit Unlocked Avtodor's Defense

This game between Zenit and Avtodor was among the best over the weekend. Saratov seized the early momentum and led the entire first half, but it didn't last as Vasily Karasev's men took control following the break.

The offense keyed Zenit's success. They scored 50 points in the second half to secure a comeback win. Konstantin Kucher analyzes Avtodor's defense and Zenit's determination on offense for Breaking It Down.

Zenit's Ryan Toolson, the VTB United League's October MVP, did not play because of injury. Without Toolson's 3-point shooting to worry about, Avtodor focused on shutting down the paint, giving Zenit plenty of space on the perimeter.

Zenit took advantage, connecting on 12 of 20 3-point attempts. Saratov simply didn't contest many outside shots.

Here's an example of a Zenit possession. Zabian Dowdell or Artem Vikhrov started to drive the lane.

That drew several defenders.

Then they passed to the perimeter, where there were usually several open targets.

The home team lived off of 3-point shooting in the first half, but needed something extra to get a win. As a result, following the break, Zenit began attacking the paint much more aggressively.

Despite Avtodor's numeric advantage inside, St. Petersburg found success again and again. If you take a closer look, you can see that Saratov's help defense was not always effective.

For example, Vikhrov opened the 3rd quarter by scoring on a layup. 

In addition to his primary defender, three other Avtodor players were supposed to help.

On this play, however, they were simply onlookers.

The help defense continued to struggle. Passive defending against the pick-and-roll allowed Zenit's guards to get open looks from outside. At times, Avtodor simply couldn't keep up. Other times, they failed to box out and gave up second-chance points.

The following sequence is a good example. As usual, three Avtodor defenders were clustered around the basket.

But none had an impact. No one stopped Janis Timma from getting the ball and getting open. Ivan Rusetsky was the only one who even tried to contest Timma's shot.

Here's another situation. Three Avtodor players stopped Timma from driving the lane.

He then passed the ball to Vikhrov who had an open lane to the basket and scored two easy points.

As this game showed, even without leading scorer Ryan Toolson, Zenit's offense is quite effective. St. Petersburg knows how to exploit weaknesses on defense, switch strategies during the course of a game and take decisive action. Thanks to its productive offense, Vasily Karasev's men remain undefeated and atop the VTB United League standings.

Konstantin Kucher