A true rivalry. Сloser look at how Avtodor beat Nizhny in OT.

This regional rivalry game became an instant gem of the second Regular Season week as Avtodor’s Jeremy Chappell and Jeffrey Brooks combined for 13 overtime points and willed their team to win. Let’s take a closer look at what happened on the floor.

On this week’s edition of Breaking It Down Konstantin Kucher will explain some of the things that Avtodor were doing on offense as a team in some of the game’s key moments.

Players from Saratov came out from the gate aggressively in the overtime period. This is their first possession in OT, Brooks made a cut to the basket.

Chappell sets a pick on Victor Rudd, who was guarding Brooks.

This movement without the ball created confusion for Maksim Grigoriev and Victor Rudd who lost their defensive assignments, leaving two of Avtodor’s players wide open on the perimeter.

The pass went to Chappell, who easily beat Grigoriev off the dribble. Kaspars Bezinsh came to help, but didn’t offer much in terms of resistance.

On the next possession Brooks got open by using a screen set by Travis Peterson.

Rudd, his defender, was had a problem getting around the pick.

As he managed to get around it, he still didn’t come out to tightly guard his man on the perimeter, leaving him with a relatively open look.

The pick was used to free Jeremy Chappell on their third scoring possession, who took his time, read what the defense was giving him and made the right decision with the ball.

All that Nizhny could do on this play was to foul Chappell.

On the next possession Chappell was in the triple threat position and commanded the most attention from the defenders.

Peterson made a timely turnaround, leaving two defenders behind him, he then found Brooks with a corner pass.

After that Peterson didn’t stop on the play, he positioned himself for a box-out down low and freed the driving lane for Brooks.

All that Brooks had to do was to beat Berzinsh off the dribble, which he did rather easily.

Saratov ran an isolation play for Brooks only on their fifth possession, leaving him on an island with Semen Antonov to score what was ultimately the deciding basket.

There’s no doubt that Malcolm Armstead should be the number one option on offense for Saratov, but even without him Avtodor can be very formidable. Chappell, Brooks and Peterson exhibit nice individual skills, ability to read defenses well and play off of each other’s strengths. They make simple plays and run them to perfection. 

By Konstantin Kucher