By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
VTB United League featured six games this week and in five of them, the visiting team came out on top. CSKA Moscow had week off.
Game of the Week: UNICS Kazan – Khimki Moscow
Alexey Shved and Devin Booker stepped up for Khimki and led their squad to a 98-88 road win against Unics.
Shved put on a double-double with 25 points and 13 assists while Booked was right behind with 25 points of his own as well as nine rebounds. Janis Timma was right behind with 20 points on 6-8 from deep in addition to Jonas Jerebko’s 14 points.
For UNICS, Errick McCollum and Jamar Smith scored 20 points each while Alex Tyus added 14. Smith and McCollum also dished nine and six assists respectively. Kostas Kaimakoglou had 11 points on 4-4 shooting.
Khimki stayed alone at the top with 15-1 while UNICS is also in the clear in the fourth spot with a 9-6 record.
Lokomotiv and PARMA on a roll
Lokomotiv Kuban stayed at the third spot with 12-4 but reached the same record as CSKA Moscow in front of them and if they keep up the winning streak (six straight so far), they will have a chance to get ahead of CSKA in a direct clash – if not before.
Meanwhile, PARMA Perm beat Enisey and got its fourth straight led by Adas Jusekvicius improving to 7-9 which puts them in the sixth spot and one step ahead of the competition in the playoff race. They will have a good chance to keep winning as they face and injured Zenit Saint Petersburg squad and Stelmet Zielona Gora next, both at home.
Zenit’s injury woes
Zenit has lost five of the last six games in all competitions including the last one in VTB League, against BC Kalev/Cramo.
They’ve had ups and downs throughout the whole season but various injuries didn’t help at all. This week, they had to play without Mateusz Ponitka, Alex Renfroe, Colton Iverson, and Dmitry Khvostov while Andrey Zubkov and Gustavo Ayon have just recently returned from their health issues and it’s questionable if they are at 100%.
That makes things quite a bit harder for Zenit which currently sits below the playoff zone in VTB League, in the ninth spot with 6-9. They aren’t far behind as Astana and Nizhny are in front with the same number of wins (6-8, 6-9) but their next opponent will be Lokomotiv and it seems as though Zenit will have to fight for a playoff ticket until the very end.
VTB Weekly results and scorers
Zielona Gora – Nizhny 103-108 (Thomasson 29 – Komolov 23)
Enisey – PARMA 83-85 (Berry 17 – Juskevicius 21)
Saratov – Lokomotiv 81-97 (Boatright 21 – O’Bryant 25)
Zenit – Kalev 75-76 (Hollins 18 – Vinales 29)
Tsmoki – Astana 96-77 (Mirkovic 19 – M. Hill 17)
UNICS – Khimki 88-98 (McCollum 20 – Shved 25)
Standings
1. Khimki 15-1
2. CSKA 12-4
3. Lokomotiv 12-4
4. UNICS 9-6
5. Kalev 7-8
6. PARMA 7-9
7. Astana 6-8
8. Nizhny 6-9
9. Zenit 6-9
10. Enisey 6-9
11. Zielona Gora 6-10
12. Avtodor 4-11
13. Tsmoki 4-12
Photo Credit: VTB United League