Week In Review: First Big Upset, First Team To Score 100 And Fridzon Regains Lead

Week In Review: First Big Upset, First Team To Score 100 And Fridzon Regains Lead

Season X delivers surprises in Week 3.

Astana provides the first big upset

Early in the season, when even the best teams are trying to find an identity, upsets can be fairly common. This year, however, we had to wait until Week 3 for the first sensation. 

With Zenit leading Astana 64-45 midway through the 3rd quarter, nothing indicated an upset was brewing. But the Kazakh champions stormed back courtesy of Anthony Clemmons–26 points and 10 assists–and pulled out the win down the stretch.

The Yellow and Sky Blue now boast a winning record (2-1), while Zenit begins the season with two losses for the first time. 

UNICS takes the first Green derby

Zielona Gora has been open about its playoff ambitions and began its League campaign with a convincing win over Tsmoki-Minsk.

Kazan quickly brought the Poles back down to earth. UNICS put together a 14-0 run in the 3rd quarter to seize control and ultimately win by 20 in the first match-up between the two green teams.  

Avtodor: First to 100

Avtodor became the first team this season to score over 100 points. On Saturday, Saratov returned to its roots, pouring in 106 points to defeat Enisey.

David Kravish played a big part in the win, scoring a League career-high 30 points and a 43 efficiency rating. Kravish’s 13 made field goals ranks 4th in League history. 

CSKA: Second to 100

CSKA followed Avtodor’s example, dropping 102 points on Kalev two days later in a 102-75 win.

The Army Men were also led by a center. Othello Hunter recorded team highs in points (19), rebounds (8) and efficiency rating (27). He was also perfect from the field, shooting 6-6, and knocked down the triple that gave CSKA its 100th point in the game. 

Fridzon’s return

Lokomotiv-Kuban cruised by VEF (92-63) thanks to terrific play from the Russian trio of Vitaly Fridzon (18), Dmitry Kulagin (11 + 5 rebounds + 6 assists) and Dmitry Khvostov (11).

Fridzon’s outburst on offense helped him return to 1st place on the League’s all-time scoring list. The Russian national team captain now has 2,200 career points, edging ahead of Khimki’s Alexey Shved by seven points (2,193). 

Kaimakoglou’s return

Kostas Kaimakoglou had not scored in the League for exactly one year. On October 21, 2017, he recorded 11 points in a game vs. Lokomotiv-Kuban, before an injury forced him to miss the rest of the season and the first two weeks of the 2018-19 season. Over the weekend, the Greek veteran made his long-awaited return and knocked down a two-point field goal. 

Kulagin’s return

CSKA and Russian national team guard Mikhail Kulagin also returned from injury, making his season debut vs. Kalev with eight points and two assists in 16 minutes.

Trick shot

PARMA mascot Manny hit a halfcourt shot with his back to the basket during halftime of the game vs. Khimki.

Perm could have used his accuracy during the game, shooting only 7-25 from beyond the arc. Dee Bost and Tony Crocker, meanwhile, gave the PARMA defense a headache, combining for 43 of Khimki’s 80 points. Moscow Region has won four in a row to start the season.

Dunk of the Week

Assist of the Week

Vitaly Fridzon did more than just score in the win over VEF. Check out this pretty dish on the baseline.

Grigory Shukhovtsev’s debut slam

Grigory Shukhovtsev recently signed with PARMA and made his debut against Khimki. The experienced center only scored once in 13 minutes on the court, but no one’s going to forget this dunk any time soon.

Buzzer-beater of the Week

Tsmoki-Minsk’s Darrin Govens knocked down a 3rd-quarter buzzer-beater in the game vs. Nizhny Novgorod. It wasn’t enough to save the Belarusians. Tsmoki has lost three in a row to open the season. Nizhny, on the other hand, took home its first win of the campaign.

Stat

2. Zenit’s road game in Astana had multiple associations with the number two. St. Petersburg lost in Kazakhstan for the second year in a row; opens the season with two losses for the fist time; while the margin of defeat was two points (93-91). 

Quote

It’s not so easy for a player to earn praise from Dimitris Itoudis, but the CSKA boss liked what he saw from youngster Alexander Khomenko in the win over Kalev: “It’s great we could use all of our players. Misha Kulagin returned from injury and our young guys Lopatin and Khomenko played a lot. Khoma, by the way, was very good on both ends of the floor.”