Baskonia dominated Khimki in the paint
Baskonia dominated Khimki in the paint
Yesterday, Khimki resisted heroically until halftime. They even lead in the first part of the game. But after the break, they had to face reality. Baskonia came stronger with one of the best 3rd quarter (38 points scored) and second half (64 points) in the history of Euroleague.
The explanation of this blow is easier, Khimki is, in the absence of Jordan Mickey, very weak in the paint and very weak in general. They are waiting resigned the end of the season in Euroleague. The same team that beat CSKA a couple of days ago in VTB League, had actually no chance against Baskonia. The stats are speaking for it:
- Khimki had only 17 rebounds this game vs. 42 made by Baskonia – one of the biggest gaps at this category ever seen. Baskonia has 12 offensive boards and Khimki 12 defensive ones – this means that 50% from the rebounds at Khimki’s basket was made by the opposite squad.
- Having exactly the same number of shots for both teams, 63, the margin of the winning side was huge: 104-86. Baskonia had 39/63 and Khimki just 28/63 FG.
- Khimki shot desperately from the arc, registering 38 attempts and just 25 from 2 point range. But the percentage was poor on both categories compared with Baskonia
- Actually, Khimki had just 4 foreigners at this game and 2 of them played very bad: Stefan Markovic scored only 2 points and Charles Jenkins – 3. What the Russian team could do in these circumstances, but surrender?
Gratian Cormos, info@brainbasketball.net
