Week Twelve Recap

Kazan's victory on the road against Lokomotiv-Kuban, Avtodor's red-hot shooting against Krasny Oktyabr, Josh Boone's record night and more in our Week Twelve recap.

Spotlight
Lokomotiv went 5-0 against UNICS last season in the VTB United League, including a 3-0 sweep in the playoff quarterfinals. But despite a strong start in the Euroleague, Krasnodar has struggled in the VTB United League this season. Georgios Bartzokas's men were 5-4 entering Sunday's contest, two and a half games behind 8-2 UNICS.

UNICS coach Evgeny Pashutin compared the atmosphere at the Basket Hall to a championship game. Indeed, the intensity on the court was extremely high from the opening tip. UNICS won the first two periods by identical scores of 12-9. In the second half, the two teams improved on offense, but Kazan remained on top. Even a furious comeback in the final minutes was not enough for the home team as UNICS escaped with a 58-56 victory.

Revenge
Nizhny Novgorod eliminated Zenit from the 2015 playoffs, winning Game 5 of an entertaining, back-and-forth quarterfinal series. Much had changed, however, in the intervening months. Weakened by injuries, Nizhny had lost four in a row and dropped out of the top-8 in the standings. Zenit, meanwhile, was an impressive 7-1 and ranked 2nd in the standings. Seeking revenge, Zenit took care of business in this game, knocking off Nizhny Novgorod on the road, 88-84.

Setback
Zenit's triumph was marred by a season-ending injury to captain Kyle Landry. The Canadian center tore his achilles during a routine play and will now need to undergo surgery and lengthy rehab. It's a big setback for one of the league's biggest surprises this season.

Fan of the Week

Challenge
CSKA came in a heavy favorite against Tsmoki-Minsk, but the Belarusian visitors threw the first punch, leading 19-15 after 10 minutes. Not surprisingly, CSKA responded quickly, holding Tsmoki to 16 points over the next two quarters to enjoy a comfortable 92-48 win. The Muscovites improve to 10-1, all alone in 1st place.

Debut
Last week, VEF replaced head coach Carlos Frade with assistant Janis Gailitis. Gailitis faced a big test in his first VTB United League game, taking Riga on the road to play Khimki. VEF was 0-13 all-time against Moscow Region entering the contest, but played tough for three and a half quarters, trailing by just four points midway through the final period.

Khimki sniper Petteri Koponen, however, was incredible down the stretch, pouring in 15 points to go with three assists and two steals in the final 10 minutes! VEF couldn't keep pace and dropped a hard-fought 104-92 defeat. With the win, Khimki improves to 8-3, while VEF drops to 3-9.

Offense
Avtodor put on another master class against Krasny Oktyabr, following up the recent 131-point outburst in Astana with a 102-85 win against Volgograd. Avtodor shot an incredible 61% from beyond the arc, converting 17 3-pointers to run away with victory. Saratov has now won four straight while averaging 102.8 points per game during the streak.

Tradition
Astana sneaked into the playoffs last spring, despite two losses to Bisons during the regular season. On Sunday, Bisons made it 3-0 against Astana in the VTB United League, knocking off the visitors by a score of 81-75. Martin Zeno led the way for the Finns, scoring a career-high 30 points, helping his team catch Astana in the standings.

Record of the Week
Kalev center Josh Boone pulled down a league-record 20 rebounds against Enisey. The former mark of 19 rebounds was set by Krasnye Krylia center Kervin Bristol last season.

The American big man also scored 23 points, helping his team pick up an important 80-70 win.

Stat of the Week
119 - Nymburk's point total in the road win over Vita (119-59).

That ties for the 2nd-most points in league history. Avtodor scored 119 against Tsmoki-Minsk last season, while CSKA matched that number against Nymburk earlier this season. Last week, Avtodor went on to smash the old record, dropping 131 points in a win over Astana.

MVP of the Week
Josh Boone (Kalev). The 31-year-old center set a new rebounding record, while leading Kalev to victory over Enisey. Boone finished with an insane 23 points (10-14 from the field), 20 rebounds and a 37 efficiency rating. 

Quotable
UNICS guard Keith Langford:
- Both teams played great defense to start the game. Personally, I felt like we would win if we could play defense like that for 40 minutes. I'm happy that we managed to get revenge for last season. Lokomotiv beat us five or six times that year. So it's nice to start the season with this type of win.

Play of the Week

Photo of the Week

Standings