By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
January is coming to an end and the VTB United League teams give their everything in order to seal a spot in the upcoming playoffs. CSKA continues its winning course with a 14-1 record in an evening that will be remembered for a plethora of things and not just for the win, Khimki follows in the second spot with 12-2, while Unics ranks third with an 11-3 record.
Let’s reminiscent on this past week’s action:
MVP
Daniel Hackett, CSKA Moscow
This week’s MVP could not be other than the infallible Daniel Hackett! The Italian/American guard finished the game against Tsmoki in Minsk with perfect efficiency, adding 22 points (8/8 FG) and six assists for the winners with just one turnover in 19 minutes on the court. With a PIR of 30 and bearing in mind CSKA‘s victory, Hackett rightfully earned his spot in this section.
Dimitris Itoudis leads VTB All-Time Wins
With CSKA‘s triumph on the road, coach Dimitris Itoudis became the all-time VTB League leader in wins with 141, surpassing Evgeny Pashutin (140) and Vasily Karasev (122). When it comes to active coaches in the league, Itoudis is also in front of Khimki’s Rimas Kurtinaitis, who has 102 victories.
Breather for Nizhny
The Novgorod side hosted Unics and sealed an important victory for their playoffs chase. Nizhny, that moves up to a 7-7 record in the regular season, was paced by Kendrick Perry who posted a game-high performance of 27 points and eight rebounds. Perry helped the hosts enter an unstoppable offensive crescendo in the second half and managed to outshine Errick McCollum‘s 18 points for Unics.