Week 30 Recap

Zenit's statement win at home, Shawn King's record night on the glass and more in our Week 30 recap.

Battle of the Week
3rd place in the league is still up for grabs and both Zenit and Lokomotiv-Kuban secured important wins over the weekend to set up a dramatic showdown on Thursday in St. Petersburg.

Zenit hosted 2nd-place UNICS at SIBUR Arena, dispatching Evgeny Pashutin's club by a score of 89-65.

Lokomotiv-Kuban took on one of the league's hottest teams, VEF Riga. Coming off a huge win in Barcelona on Thursday that extended the Euroleague quarterfinal series to five games, the Red-Greens dug deep at home, stopping VEF to secure a 71-63 victory.

Boasting identical 22-7 records, Zenit and Lokomotiv meet on Thursday in St. Petersburg with the winner picking up 3rd place, while the loser drops all the way to 5th.

Fan of the Week

Leader
CSKA closed out the regular season at home vs. Avtodor. Both teams played exciting, up-tempo basketball with Moscow enjoying a 101-90 victory. Having already sealed the top seed in the playoffs, CSKA set a new record for regular-season victories, posting a 28-2 mark.

Saratov finishes 6th, finishing the season on an 11-2 tear, despite Sunday's defeat. Avtodor will face the winner of Thursday's Zenit - Lokomotiv contest in the first round.

Turning Point
Nizhny Novgorod and Nymburk were neighbors in the standings for much of the season, battling for 7th place down the stretch.

Playing at home, Nizhny Novgorod was able to pick up a 91-76 win to finish one game above Nymburk (17-13 vs. 16-14) in the final standings.

The Black-Whites will take on UNICS in the first round, while the Lions square off against CSKA Moscow.

Bench
Khimki needed a win on Sunday to guarantee a spot in the top-4. On the road in Krasnoyarsk, Petteri Koponen and the bench delivered, combining for 60 of Khimki's 95 points in a 95-85 win.

Enisey ends up in 10th place, while Khimki is locked into 4th place after Loko and Zenit both won over the weekend. The Yellow-Blues put together a 22-8 campaign and will edge out either Loko or Zenit for 4th and home-court advantage in the first round thanks to superior head-to-head results.

Respect
Volgograd loves basketball and Krasny Oktyabr desperately wanted to reward the home fans with a win over Astana on the final day of the season. The Steelmen delivered, carried by Jerry Jefferson's dominant performance (29 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and two steals) to a 106-85 victory. Oktyabr finishes the season in 9th place, while the Kazakh champs end up in 15th. 

Experience
Avtodor forward Andrey Sepelev became the oldest player to ever appear in a league game.

Sepelev was 42 years old on Sunday, recording two points in a little under two minutes on the court vs. CSKA.

The previous record had been held by Krasny Oktyabr's Igor Zamansky (38).

Stat of the Week
25 - Shawn King of Kalev broke the league record for rebounds in a game vs. Tsmoki-Minsk.

Former Kalev big man Josh Boone held the previous record of 20 rebounds, set in December vs. Enisey.

King's big night helped Kalev close out the 2015-16 campaign with a win (81-73) and take 14th place. Tsmoki ended up in 12th place.

MVP of the Week
Rolands Freimanis (Kalev). While King took care of the defense and rebounding, Freimanis was unstoppable on offense. The Latvian forward nearly matched his personal scoring record in the league (32 points vs. VEF last season), collecting 14 points in the 4th quarter to help Kalev pull away. He finished with 31 (11-15 from the field including five 3-pointers and 4-4 from the line), 10 rebounds, one steal and a 38 efficiency rating.

Quotable
Nymburk head coach Ronen Ginzburg:
- Congratulations to Nizhny Novgorod on the win. We didn't play our best on defense in this game and our opponent managed to control the tempo. But, despite today's result, 8th place in the standings and a berth in the VTB United League playoffs is a serious accomplishment for our club. I wish Nizhny luck against UNICS, and the same for us against CSKA. The Army Men's trip to the Czech Republic will be a big event and we'll try to play our best against them.

Play of the Week

Photo of the Week

Standings