Week Six Recap

Nizhny Novgorod knocks off Khimki in dramatic fashion, Nymburk keeps streaking, Lokomotiv-Kuban tested in Georgia and more as VTB-League.com recaps Week Six.

Spotlight
One week after shocking CSKA in overtime, Nizhny faced another test with Khimki coming to town on Monday evening. Coming off a dominant win against Crvena Zvezda in the Euroleague, Khimki was favored on the road. For much of the night, the visitors were in complete control and even held off a brief Nizhny run in the 3rd quarter. Early in the 4th quarter, Khimki led by as much 11 points, looking certain to improve to 5-1 with the win.

Nizhny had other plans. Led by Kaspars Berzins, the home team mounted a furious comeback, cutting the deficit to two with 20 seconds left to play. As Khimki tried to bring the ball up the court, Nizhny trapped Tyrese Rice and forced a turnover. Seconds later, Kaspars Berzins got the ball open on the perimeter and drilled the go-ahead '3'! At the other end, Rice tried to save Khimki at the buzzer, but his jumper was off the mark. Nizhny springs a second straight upset, winning 93-92.

Familiar Faces
Avtodor and Enisey swapped players over the summer. Ex-Enisey Evgeny Kolesnikov and Alexey Nesterov and ex-Avtodor Artem Yakovenko and Alexey Vzdykhalkin had plenty of motivation in this game. Vzdykhalkin was even Avtodor captain last season and he made sure the Saratov fans got to see his best. The Enisey guard made six of eight 3's, scoring 21 points. But it wasn't enough. As a team, Avtodor converted 13 of 22 3-point attempts, good for 59% from downtown, giving the home team a 90-84 win.

Support
Lokomotiv-Kuban fans rode a bus 20 hours to support their team on the road in Tbilisi. "We had people sitting behind us today that we couldn't let down. They gave us a huge boost." - Loko coach Georgios Bartzokas told the press after the game.

Indeed, Krasnodar needed an extra shot of energy after a tight first half. An 11-0 run in the 3rd quarter put the Railwaymen in control and they went on to reward their faithful fans with a 76-63 win.

Balance
After winning big in the first game of the season, Krasny Oktyabr lost four in a row. Something had to change.
Krasny Oktyabr's decision to cut top scorer Tony Mitchell may not have been the conventional approach, but it seemed to work against Tsmoki-Minsk. Volgograd was much more balanced on offense in the 81-77 win. Andrei Mateiunas was especially clutch, knocking down several big shots in the final minutes. With a 34-11 advantage in bench scoring, Oktyabr finally got back in the win column.

Adaptation
"A lot of teams have lost in Finland. They simply couldn't adapt. We also struggled with that in the first half."
UNICS head coach Evgeny Pashutin's commentary after the game summarized Kazan's win in Loimaa on Sunday (93-74). In the first half, UNICS lost by two, but the second half was a different story. Keith Langford and Quino Colom each played 40 minutes, with Langford scoring 20 points and Colom nearly notching a triple-double. UNICS has now won four straight.

Stat of the Week
25 - CSKA's defense locked down Kalev in the second half, holding the visitors to 25 points after giving up 23 in the 2nd quarter alone. Leading by four at halftime, the Army Men cruised to a 100-67 win after the break.

Fan of the Week

Quotable
Nymburk head coach Ronen Ginzburg:
- I think this was our worst game of the season. I don't want to blame the players. We are missing three key guards to injuries. Plus, this was our second game in four days and we were exhausted. We didn't look good today, but still managed to win. That means something. We showed toughness and I'm happy.

... Despite the criticism, Nymburk fans have to be ecstatic about Ginzburg's quotes. It's not every day that a team manages to win despite playing its worst game of the season. That's what happened, though, on Saturday, in large part thanks to Howard Sant-Roos. The Cuban forward scored 29 points in the 73-71 win over VEF, including seven in the final three minutes and the game-winning shot. Nymburk was the 1st team in the league to five wins (Nizhny did it on Monday) and is tied for 2nd in the standings.

MVP
Kaspars Berzins (Nizhny Novgorod). Terrific all night against Khimki, the Latvian big man was also the hero in the final seconds, hitting the game-winning '3'. He ended the game with 26 points (9-13 from the field), three rebounds, two assists, one steal, one block and a 26 efficiency rating.

Play of the Week

Snapshot