Solo Act: Langford's Fireworks vs. Khimki

The Khimki - UNICS showdown in Kazan more than lived up to expectations. The game was close from start to finish as both teams battled hard for a statement win in the league.

UNICS ultimately came out on top, thanks primarily to star guard Keith Langford. The American scored 34 points on 65% shooting from the field (also 10-12 from the line). Coming off a less than impressive performance vs. CSKA, Langford enjoyed one of his best games of the season against a deep and talented Khimki roster.

Konstantin Kucher breaks down Keith Langford's performance vs. Khimki in his latest blog post on VTB-League.com.

Isolation plays (6 successful possessions - 13 points scored)

Iso plays were Langford's bread and butter. Kazan gave Langford plenty of opportunities to beat his defender one-on-one and he took full advantage. The 32-year-old was deadly with the pull-up jumper and driving to the basket.

Most of Langford's success came against Petteri Koponen and Tyrese Rice. Khimki's Egor Vyaltsev and Alexey Shved did a much better job limiting Langford's one-on-one opportunities.

Defensive mismatches (2 successful possessions - 4 points scored)

Langford also took advantage of defensive mismatches. 

Langford didn't attack the Khimki big men as often, but he did score on them twice. His baskets against Sergey Monia and Ruslan Pateev were very effective.

Fast breaks (2 successful possessions - 4 points scored)

Langford also scored twice on the fast break, getting fouled both times. He missed his shot the first time, then converted one free throw. On the second opportunity, he scored and made the free throw for three points.

Scoring after a kick out to the perimeter (2 successful possessions - 5 points scored)

UNICS's second-best option on offense was getting the ball inside to the big man. Langford took advantage several times when Khimki loaded up on defense in the paint, 

giving Kazan an opportunity to kick the ball out to the perimeter.

Scoring after coming off a screen (1 successful possession - 2 points scored)

Langford knows how to use a screen to attack the basket. Kazan also likes to run the pick-and-pop on occasion. But neither option was very effective against Khimki. Langford found success just once via a screen, breaking free of Petteri Koponen in the 3rd quarter.

He then scored over James Augustine.

Shooting fouls (3 successful possessions - 6 points scored)

The American scored another six points at the free-throw line. The first attempt came in the final seconds of the 3rd quarter, but his four free throws in the final minute of the game were even more important, sealing a Kazan win.

As we can see, UNICS took full advantage of Langford's versatility on offense. His ability to beat defenders one-on-one and score points in the final minutes helped Kazan pull out the win. Rimas Kurtinaitis tried lots of different options on defense, but Koponen and Rice ended up spending the most time on Langford, instead of the more reliable Shved and Vyaltsev.

Konstantin Kucher