Zenit defeated Lokomotiv-Kuban in the match of the week of the VTB United League regular championship
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In the match of the week of the regular championship of the VTB United League, Zenit defeated Lokomotiv-Kuban on its site. This season, the St. Petersburg team, who had never previously beaten representatives of the top 3 of Russian basketball, were simply unstoppable this time. The result was a more than convincing victory with a score of 106:67. But in Perm, Parma and CSKA put on a much more intriguing performance. Yes, and with a very unexpected outcome. Parma led during most of the confrontation with the championship leader and achieved a beautiful victory with a score of 84:80. For Evgeny Pashutin’s team, this is the second victory in a row over the army team.
This season, up until Sunday, Zenit had surprisingly poor results in their meetings with key competitors in the fight for the title: CSKA, UNICS and Lokomotiv-Kuban. At the first stage of the “regular” championship, Javi Pascual’s team met with the above-mentioned opponents six times and invariably lost. Painful at times. Just like Lokomotiv-Kuban in December on their own court with a difference of two dozen points.
What caused such a depressing series is clear to Pascual, but in any case, against its background, it was difficult to consider Zenit a favorite in the next confrontation with Krasnodar. Even taking into account the fact that the St. Petersburgers played on their own site, and a respectable 5 thousand spectators gathered in the stands. And the first minutes of the meeting generally confirmed the assumption that it would be very difficult for the hosts. But soon alarm bells began to sound more and more often for Krasnodar residents. Here Thomas Ertel, to whom the guests generally effectively blocked the opportunities for distributing passes, began to successfully hit himself. Suddenly the railroad workers began to lose Kyle Kurich, who, of course, immediately began to shoot from range. As a result, by the beginning of the second quarter, as if out of nowhere, the hosts had amassed an 11-point lead. There was nothing fatal about it; Lokomotiv-Kuban loves and knows how to bounce back, which it did on Sunday, making a 13:2 spurt and leveling the score. But it was still felt that this return did not happen due to the good play of the guests, but because of the momentary relaxation of the hosts. Well, as soon as Pascual again cheered up his team, they took the lead again.
The key period in the game was the third quarter. It seemed to start with some strange competition to see who could miss the most. From the misfires of the players of both teams, you can collect an excellent compilation of missed opportunities. It was clear that the first one who managed to cope with his nerves and establish a normal game would win this match. And many people probably bet on the guests at that moment. Still, playing against the backdrop of emotional swings is quite in their style. “Zenith” is more about defense, order and discipline. However, it was the hosts’ defense that played a key role.
Zenit is generally the league’s least conceding team, but on Sunday it showed incredible efficiency in destroying other people’s attacks.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such agile and at the same time prickly defensive play by the St. Petersburg team. As a result, Zenit’s lead grew and grew, and after the guests lost Okaro White (out of frustration that his team missed another quick attack, he threw the ball at the referee’s feet, for which he received a technical, also known as the fifth foul), the Krasnodar team as if they were broken. Then the head coach of the guests, Alexander Sekulic, admitted: “We just didn’t know how to play. They just fell apart.”
As a result, the match turned into a beating of the Krasnodar players. And towards the end of the meeting, the Zenit players were clearly working for the public. Ertel, after whose passes his partners had potentially spectacular overhead throws a couple of times during the match, began to give out some really aesthetic passes, but that day they too passed. But the best indication of what happened in the final ten minutes is the score: 37:12 in favor of Zenit. In the end, a more than deserved victory for the hosts with a score of 106:67. For Zenit, this is the biggest victory of the season and the first time since the beginning of the championship that the team managed to exchange a hundred. For Lokomotiv-Kuban it was the worst match of the season. However, in the standings the Krasnodar team remained third, one victory ahead of Zenit.
In Perm, a seemingly passable match in which Parma hosted championship leader CSKA turned into a real thriller. Yes, the Perm team had already beaten the army team this season, but it did not follow from this that this trick would certainly be repeated again. In addition, the army team lost their previous match in the championship (to UNICS), and it was not at all easy to admit that CSKA would make two misfires in a row. Nevertheless, Parma gave a real fight to the favorite. Moreover, one in which it was she who played number one, leading for most of the match. True, by the end of the first ten minutes, after Amat Mbai put the army team ahead, it seemed that the guests had found their way to the enemy’s game and would now build on their success. But instead there was a breakthrough from Parma.
For the hosts, working like a carousel, the game was taken over by either Richard Solomon, BJ Johnson, Isaiah Reese (with 17 points, Perm’s most productive player), CJ Brice, or Alexander Platunov.
As a result, it was CSKA coach Emil Raikovich who had to take time outs to improve his team’s play.
Raikovich was never able to completely correct it. Although CSKA still had a chance to win. Casper Ware and Melo Trimble, who caught the courage, dragged out the game until the end, turning the “dull” “minus 9” into a very promising “minus 3” a couple of minutes before the siren. But Parma, thanks to a desperate defensive game, held out and won with a score of 84:80. This victory allowed the Perm team to match the main indicators with Yenisei (the Krasnoyarsk team is fifth, the Perm team is sixth). As for CSKA, it retained first place in the table, but now the army team is only one win ahead of UNICS.
VTB United League Championship. Second phase
MBA—Uralmash 78:81. “Samara” – “Minsk” 79:71. UNICS—Yenisey 107:84. “Zenit” — “Lokomotiv-Kuban” 106:67. Parma—CSKA 84:80.
Tournament table
I V P % points
Group A
1. CSKA 27 22 5 81
2. UNICS 27 21 6 78
3. Lokomotiv-Kuban 27 19 8 70
4. Zenit 27 18 9 67
5. “Yenisei” 27 16 11 59
6. Parma 27 16 11 59
Group B
1. “Samara” 27 15 12 56
2. Uralmash 27 14 13 52
3. “Rune” 27 11 16 41
4. Avtodor 27 11 16 41
5. “Astana” 26 10 16 38
6. MBA 27 8 19 30
7. “Nizhny Novgorod” 26 7 19 27
8. “Minsk” 27 0 27 0
Group A is played by the teams that took the first six places at the end of the first stage, in Group B – those that took places from 7th to 14th. The points scored in the first stage are taken into account.
Group A teams guaranteed themselves participation in the playoffs. The four best teams in Group B based on the results of the second stage will play in the play-in stage for the two remaining places in the play-offs. The quarterfinal series will go up to three victories, and the semifinals and finals will go up to four.
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