Week Eleven Recap

Khimki's double-OT win over Lokomotiv-Kuban, Avtodor's 131-point explosion at home, Enisey's back-to-back victories against Nizhny and Tsmoki and more in our Week Eleven recap.

Spotlight
There was a lot of intrigue entering the matchup between last year's playoff semifinal opponents: Khimki and Lokomotiv-Kuban. Half a game separated the two teams in the standings with one of the league's best offensive teams (Khimki) taking on the top defensive team (Lokomotiv-Kuban). Victor Claver also made his return to Moscow Region.

The game more than lived up to expectations. Krasnodar erased a 16-point deficit in the 2nd quarter, while Khimki put together a comeback in the second half. Malcolm Delaney and Tyrese Rice both missed chances to win the game, setting the stage for Alexey Shved, who lifted Khimki to a dominant second overtime and a crucial win. Moscow Region scored 19 points in five minutes to win 101-88 and improve to 4th in the standings.

Debut
Reigning champs and 1st-place CSKA traveled to Riga as heavy favorites. The Army Men took care of business, despite a tough fight from VEF. Midway through the 3rd quarter, the Russians led by only five points, but a strong finish on defense helped CSKA secure a 15-point win, 92-77.

Joel Freeland's debut was also a significant moment for the Army Men. He was CSKA's biggest free agent signing, brought in to replace Alexander Kaun. A September injury delayed his CSKA debut by several months, but he got on the court in Latvia. He didn't do much in six and a half minutes on the court, but don't expect the Army Men to worry. He's still got plenty of time to make an impact.

New Start
Tsmoki-Minsk got off to a great start to insert itself into the playoff race. But despite a 4-4 record, Minsk had yet to win at home. The Belarusian fans were finally rewarded on Saturday as the Dragons knocked off visiting Vita by 20.

The Georgians only competed in the 1st quarter. Tsmoki gradually upped the tempo, exposing Vita's defense on the fast-break to win 94-74. Vitali Liutych led the home team with a career-high 23 points.

Streak
While Tsmoki needed two months to win its first home game, Nymburk had yet to lose in the Czech Republic. The Red-Whites kept the perfect record intact in Week Eleven. Nymburk took a big lead in the 1st quarter against Bisons and went on to win, 87-59. The Czechs have won six straight at home, but faces a big task on December 20 with CSKA coming to town.

Fan of the Week

Toughness
Two injury-riddled teams met in Krasnoyarsk. Enisey had to do without Pavel Spiridonov, D.J. Kennedy and Pavel Sergeev, while Nizhny was missing Eric Maynor, Maxim Grigoryev and Evgeny Baburin. Both teams had chances to win, but the Siberians made a strong stand on defense in the final minutes to emerge with a 103-96 victory.

Class
"We managed to win because we have more talented players and everyone can play and maintain the proper tempo," - said UNICS guard Anton Ponkrashov after the game with Kalev. Kazan certainly showed off its talent and depth against the Estonians. Everyone on the court had an impact with Kazan's bench outscoring its counterparts, 45-11. The game was over in the first half as UNICS cruised to its 4th win in five games (96-75) to remain 3rd in the standings.

Revenge
The first game between Tsmoki-Minsk and Enisey was full of drama with Justin Gray knocking down a game-winner in the final seconds. The return game in Minsk ended in similar fashion. The Dragons played catch-up the entire game and nearly pulled out the win. But this time, Ivan Maras and Aliaksandr Kudrautsau could not knock down a shot, allowing Enisey to escape with a 91-89 victory. Krasnoyarsk also catches Tsmoki in the standings.

Stat of the Week
131. Avtodor's offense was on fire against Astana (131-93), setting three league records. 131 points is a new single-game record, beating the mark of 119 set by Avtodor and CSKA.

Saratov also scored a league-record 71 points in the first half and dished out 40 assists.

Redemption
Three days after the blowout loss to Avtodor, Astana bounced back with a win against Kalev. After trailing in the 1st quarter, Ramunas Butautas's men seized the lead in the 2nd quarter and held on for a 97-91 win, making up for the embarrassment in Saratov.

MVP of the Week
Alexey Shved (Khimki).

Shved's best game in a Khimki uniform brought the team an important win in the Game of the Week. Shved set personal league highs in points, assists and efficiency rating. He finished with 32 points, 12 assists, six rebounds, one steal, one block and a 34 efficiency rating. 

Quotable
Khimki head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis:
- As a coach it's not that important how much a player scores. The most important thing is that Shved now understands what I want from him: controlling the team and working on defense. I think three years in the NBA altered his game a little. After all, he switched a lot of teams and didn't play much. Before that, he was different.

In terms of individual skill, one can only be envious and I'm happy that he plays for himself and for the team. It's great. I don't want to make him play only for the team or only for himself. He's found the perfect balance and the results have improved. I don't think he'll stop there.

Play of the Week

Photo of the Week