BASKETBALL HALF WITH SHOW-TIMELet the modest Bulgarian residence permit for guests of Khimki not deceive you. Lukoil-Academic is an experienced European cup fighter, and his results before the last round were not inferior to the club near Moscow. Neighbors needed a victory. One could expect a tough fight, suppose a landslide victory for the hosts, but to think that coach Marin Dokuzovsky would say the phrase “My team gave up soon after the break” ...
Meanwhile, it happened. It’s good that the hosts won - otherwise the arena would be empty long before the final siren. A good one and a half quarters of the rivals were fooling around and playing the public.
When the battle fails, nothing else remains.
It is unlikely that something like this could be presented and “academics” from Sofia. For some time, fragments of their game plan were quite clearly visible. The powerful Croatian Mate Skelin, who once played for the Moscow army, began to crush under the ring of Ruben Wolveski, and Dont Smith with small thrusts and hooks tried to get Kelly McCarthy out of himself.
“Khimki”, starting with a couple of misses, answered unexpectedly. “Big” were drawn to the perimeter, and in the first quarter the owners realized six three-pointer, of which three - on the account of Volkovyski. The difference in the score gradually grew, and Vladimir Veremeyenko finally put everything in its place, after missing one of the partners flew into the three-second zone and drove the ball into the ring in flight. “Veremeyenko played great, just the way he knows how,” the new head coach Russell Bergman, unedagogically singled out the only basketball player in the team.
The Belarusian forward, in fact, put an end to the match: barely appearing on the court in the third ten-minute period, he quickly scored 11 points and went to the bench. Bergman felt as if the match with the Togliatti “Standard” had not yet ended, calmly changing the wards and letting those who usually get a little playing time play. Even Vladimir Dyachok and Aleksey Savkov managed to excel, who did what he was always famous for - he accounted for the “hundred,” which the packed-up hall stubbornly demanded. The coach only complained about Pavel Podkolzin’s ankle damage, which did not allow the giant to bump under Skelin’s shields.
And before that, the participants in the match for about 15 minutes were engaged in show time. Melvin Booker and McCarthy thwarted the ovation - the first gave the second under the slam dunk by the head, and Smith, who practically repeated the “supplement” from Veremeenko. Gianmarco Potsecco was also surprised, who usually preferred to brazenly climb under the ring. “Janmarko always tried first of all to make partners around him better,” Bergman said something incomprehensible. Pokecko, indeed, allowed himself only one “three rubles” - when there were no rivals around. The rest of the time he beautifully assisted, collecting a collection of 8 assists.
PAOK - NOT "PAO", KAZAN - NOT THE THESSALONIKUNICS crowned the adventures in the regular season of the ULEB Cup with an important and pleasant victory for a domestic fan. The second places in the groups reserved by Kazan and Khimki will be divorced by teams at different poles of the playoff grid. Now, in the framework of the registration tournament, representatives of Russia can face each other only in the semifinals. To him, of course, still have to survive, crawl, but the fact is encouraging. The chances of a ticket to the Euroleague - and, we recall, the trophy holder will receive it - did not change the specific gravity.
But the PAOK, which was powerfully defeated by UNICS, is extremely prone to metamorphoses. The staff of Thessaloniki is systematically attacked by the native management. The club leaders were so fond of the entertaining Refresh button that they won’t even go through two rounds, like the next shake-ups in Hellas. Thus, in Greece, for example, Parker and Koyadinovich, formerly a Surgut student and a Samara pilot, respectively, found themselves. By the way, do not be alarmed - behind a meaningful and promising surname lies a strong American middle peasant with the disappointing name Jason. A new meeting with the Northern country that did not accept the freshly baked legionnaires of PAOK turned out to be personal micro-disasters for both renegades of the Super League - the couple failed the game.
But the ex-Yugoslav duet of the "big" Pasalich - Sekulich showed himself perfectly. Obviously, the internal strife of Serbia and Croatia did not affect the relationship between the young center. The Slavs perfectly complemented each other in the fight against the front line of UNICS, which was devoid of the usual strength from the Lavrynovych's under-set (Krzysztof was injured). And for a long time, PAOK managed to keep a noticeably superior opponent on a short leash.
However, it seems that Tatarstan’s tall idols didn’t accidentally start from the start of the distillation race with the idiomatic steam engine and simply waited for the right moment for a breakthrough. The hosts peered intently, but unobtrusively, at the basketball-psychological portrait of the stubborn guest (as a result, the hospitable and modest “+2” in favor of the Russians after the first half) and looked for negative traits. The accumulated information was enough even for two accelerations in a row. UNICS has transformed: diligently making amends after a series of misses Meshcheryakov, fulfilled for himself and for that brother Dariush Lavrinovich, snipers "shot" at an unknown round dance. The result - 11: 2 and 16: 2 at the turn of the third and fourth quarters, and the concert is over. Ahead of the 1/8 finals; all the struggle is ahead.
Nikita GOLOVANOVNikolai TSYNKEVICH