21december
Week Thirteen Recap
CSKA's visit to high-flying Nymburk, overtime in Minsk, record offense for Astana and more in VTB-League.com's Week Thirteen recap.
Sellout
CSKA always draws big crowds in the Czech Republic. Sunday night was no exception. The SA Kralovka was completely sold out for the Nymburk - CSKA showdown, giving the home team a significant edge. In the end, Nymburk played much better than it did during the 51-point loss to CSKA in November, despite failing to come out on top. The Lions put on a respectable performance against the reigning champs in an 86-66 defeat. With the victory, the Army Men improve to 11-1 and remain atop the league standings.
Series
Two proponents of offense-first basketball met in Saratov: Avtodor and Bisons. The game was close until midway through the final period when Travis Peterson helped the home team pull away for an 85-75 win. Avtodor started the season 3-4, but has since won five straight to improve to 5th in the standings.
Quotable
Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Igor Grishchuk:
- I'm very satisfied with how we played today. I think this was our second best game of the season after the contest with UNICS. I'd like to thank the guys for showing their character and battling to the end against a Euroleague club.
... Tsmoki-Minsk did not show any fear against Khimki. Despite giving up a 10-0 run to start the game, Minsk kept within striking distance and even led briefly in the final minutes, before forcing overtime. Moscow Region, however, came out on top in the extra period (94-88), snapping a three-game road losing streak.
Fan of the Week
Depth
Krasny Oktyabr is rebuilding its quad. Prior to the game in Kazan, Dmitry Sokolov moved to Khimki, leaving the Steelmen without their starting center. Playing against UNICS, Volgograd could only go nine deep with 200-cm tall Maks Konate forced to play the center position.
Kazan coach Evgeny Pashutin had a much different challenge: distributing playing time among such a deep, talented roster. On Sunday, all 12 players on UNICS's active roster got into the game and scored points. Not surprisingly, the Tatar club cruised to victory (97-76) and improved to 2nd place in the standings with a 5th consecutive win.
Stat of the Week
118 - number of points scored by Astana in the win over Vita (118-61).
That's 3rd-best in league history and a new record for the Kazakh champions.
MVP of the Week
Travis Peterson (Avtodor). The forward's strong play helped Saratov overcome Bisons and continue their winning streak. Peterson finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, four steals and a 25 efficiency rating.
Play of the Week
Photo of the Week
Standings
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