By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
The past seven days have been rather intense in the VTB League.
Intense finales, overtime victories and more brought to you in the VTB Weekly Action.
MVP
Malcolm Thomas, Khimki
With perfect accuracy from inside the paint (10/10), Thomas led Khimki to the win against Parma with his 26 points and eight rebounds, which added up to 32 points of index rating. The American center, along with Alexey Shved helped injury-plagued Khimki prove that they can be competitive no matter what the circumstances are.
Enjoy some of Thomas’ highlights:
Zenit returns to the third position with thriller win against Lokomotiv
Both teams desperately wanted the win in order to ‘seal’ the third place of the standings, though the game wasn’t over until Drew Gordon said so! With just 0.3 seconds remaining, the Zenit player helped his team grab the victory with a put-back, finishing the game with 11 points and nine rebounds. The St. Peterburg side has two big games ahead, against CSKA and Unics. A loss to either could mean that Loko returns to the third place.
Relive the intense finale:
Overtime win for Tsmoki-Minsk puts team back to the Top 8
When Kalev met Parma on Sunday, it was obvious that the competition for a spot in the Top 8 would push both teams to their limit. And so it was proved, Chris Czerapowicz (who tapped 24 points) and the Belarusians pushed the game to overtime, with the Minsk side grabbing the vital victory. Now it remains to be seen if they can remain among the playoffs competitors.
Unics comes out alive in double-game week
Despite the loss to CSKA, which tore down the team’s dream to head into the offseason as the leaders of the league, Unics bounced back this week with two wins against Avtodor on the road and VEF Riga in Kazan. No matter what, they still remain one of the best teams in the league so far, with high hopes for the playoffs.
Another 100-point game for CSKA Moscow
The Army team sealed off the top spot of the EuroLeague standings and faced Nizhny on the road with enough confidence to seal a showtime win. CSKA tapped 104 points, with Nando De Colo (21 pts) and Will Clyburn (17 pts) leading the course. The winners have nothing to fear ahead of the VTB playoffs, as no other team can threaten to steal the top place at this point of the competition.