Week Five Recap

19-year-old Ivan Viktorov stars in Nizhny's upset win vs. CSKA, Bisons shock Lokomotiv-Kuban, Nymburk improves to 4-1 and more as VTB-League.com recaps Week Five.

Breakout
There's a budding rivalry between Nizhny Novgorod and CSKA after two consecutive postseason showdowns. Sunday's thriller in Nizhny added more fuel to the fire.

The Army Men were playing their second road game in three days, while Nizhny had competed on Wednesday in the Eurocup. With both teams struggling with fatigue, Nizhny's 19-year-old guard, Ivan Viktorov, enjoyed the game of his young career.

Viktorov had played a total of four minutes prior to Sunday's game, but looked like an experienced veteran against CSKA, scoring 16 points (5-6 from the field) to lead his team to a huge win in overtime. Even a wild comeback in regulation couldn't save CSKA, which fell to the 86-82 defeat.

Defense
The Volga derby lived up to expectations on Sunday. After falling behind 22-11 in the 1st quarter, Kazan battled back, setting up a dramatic finish.

UNICS's Keith Langford was coming off a 29-point, 12-assist outburst vs. Astana, making him Avtodor's biggest focus on defense.
Saratov did a decent job, holding Langford to 19 points on 7-15 from the field, but he still managed to have an outsized impact.

With Avtodor trailing by two on the final possession of the game, Langford blocked Evgeny Kolesnikov at the buzzer, preserving a 66-64 win. After trailing 37-31 at halftime, UNICS limited the visitors to 27 points in the second half.

Opportunity
Astana and Bisons were both in search of their first win on Thursday. The Finns came close the previous week, but a comeback against Kalev came up just short when Martin Zeno missed a potential game-winner at the buzzer.

Against Astana, Bisons mounted another late comeback. Once again, the ball went to Martin Zeno in the final seconds. Despite two chances from the perimeter, the American big man couldn't connect, allowing the Kazakhs to escape with an 83-80 win.

Road Warriors
Tsmoki-Minsk finished second-to-last in the league in 2015, posting a 2-13 record on the road. It's been a different story in October.

After road wins vs. UNICS and Enisey, Tsmoki was favored on the road against VEF and easily took care of business. Minsk led by as much as 24 points in the second half, coasting to an 84-76 win in Riga. The Belarusians are now 3-1 with all three wins coming away from home.

Home Cooking
Nymburk started the season 3-1, perfect at home. The unbeaten streak in Nymburk kep going in Week Five as Ronen Ginzburg's men secured a 79-61 win over Astana. Now tied for 2nd in the league, Nymburk has been the biggest surprise of the season.

Fan of the Week

Upset
Less than a year ago, Bisons stunned fans by beating Lokomotiv-Kuban at home, the Finnish club's first major upset in the VTB United League.

On Sunday, Bisons did it again. 0-4 entering the game, matched up against a Lokomotiv-Kuban club that started 2-0 in the Euroleague, Greg Gibson's men stymied the Krasnodar offense most of the evening, holding on for a wild 70-68 win. The loss drops Lokomotiv to 2-2, 8th in the league.

Stat of the Week
10 - Kalev's final margin of victory against Vita (85-75).

-43, -33, -44, -22. The league's newest club had lost by an average of 35.5 points in its first four outings. In Tallinn, Vita finally played an opponent close, trailing by only three points with 2:16 left in the game.

Despite losing another game, Vita has shown steady improvement. The team's first win can't be far off now.

Quotable
Khimki head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis:
- We didn't just beat Krasny Oktyabr today, we also won for ourselves. After two straight losses, our confidence in ourselves and with one another was not as high. It's hard to play three games in one week against Real Madrid, CSKA and on the road vs. Bayern. There wasn't a day to rest during that stretch. Against CSKA, we didn't play like we'd hoped...although we weren't far off, we didn't finish the game like we should have. In Germany, though, we were outhustled and outplayed. The game against Krasny Oktyabr wasn't easy, but I'm happy that we met the challenge and won. I think this is a small step toward the level at which we can play.

...Khimki defeated Krasny Oktyabr (97-86).

Khimki had lost two in a row, including Euroleague competition, while Krasny Oktyabr was on a four-game skid. The losing streak led Volgograd to make a change at head coach, moving Kirill Bolshakov to an assistant role.

Nonetheless, Volgograd could not keep up with Khimki, surrendering 97 points. The losing streak now at five, Krasny Oktyabr's game next week against Astana is a must-win. Khimki stays second in the league with the victory.

MVP of the Week
Anthony Hilliard (Tsmoki-Minsk). VEF couldn't stop the Minsk guard. Hilliard scored 14 points in the first half to give Tsmoki a big lead and finished the game with 27 points (10-17), five rebounds, two assists and an efficiency rating of 25.

Play of the Week

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