Great performance, great reactions in the difficult games, great away win for Red Star, who beat Unics 84-77 in the 26th game of the EuroLeague in Kazan. The Belgrade team cut the way for the Russians, with Nikola Kalinic taking the lead again, showing that his level stands for a much higher level.

At 9-14 the Red Star (5-6 home and 4-8 away), Kalinic finished the game with 20 points from 12 shots while Nate Walters had 19 and Austin Hollins with Luka Mitrovic on 10. In 13 -11, Unics Kazan fell (8:5 h and 5:6 a), who will now come under heavy pressure from the eight pursuers. Lorenzo Brown, Marco Spisu (17 points, 6 assists) and Mario Hezonia (18 points, 9 rebounds) stood out for the Russians, but another player was missing, especially in the scoring part.

The race

Asteras struggled early and held Unics on 11 points (3/9 two points, 1/5 three points, 3 assists for 4 Russian errors) in the first period, with seven players scoring and doing a good job on the rebound (6-13) . The hosts were more aggressive early in the second half and went ahead for the first time with an impressive 20:7 (31:29 in 16′), after which the visitors flipped the switch again. They responded 2-10 and put the Hollins – Kalinic on a new six-point lead that they couldn’t hold as Unics found solutions to equalize (43-43) at halftime.

The picture of the game did not change much at the beginning of the third period. The Russians had their good intervals, the Serbs the same, the goal didn’t open, Hezonia and Brown kept Unics ahead, but towards the end of the quarter there was a breakout that the hosts sought. 65-56 in 29′ didn’t hurt the feelings of the Asteras players, who responded with a quick 0-7 for 65-63 in 30′ and took the helm early in the fourth before they were at +7 (78-71 ) and push their opponents more than ever. So much so that they didn’t give them any room to believe in victory.

THE REFEREES: Himeneth, Difala, Laurinavitsius

THE TEN MINUTES: 11-22, 43-43, 65-63, 77-84

UNIKS KAZAN (Perasovic): Spisu 17 (5/6 three points, 6 assists, 5 errors), Brown 13 (5/10 two points, 3/4 shots, 6 rebounds), Canaan, Bradley 2, Zaicef 7 (1), Hezonia 18 (3/5 two points, 4/7 three points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 errors), Uzinski 2, Jekiri 7 (6 rebounds, 2 assists), Mejo 6 (3/3 two points), Vorontsevich 5 ( 1)

Red Star (Radonic): Lazarevic 2, Walters 19 (6/10 two points, 2/3 three points, 1/2 shots, 4 rebounds, 2 assists), Davidovic 3 (1), Mitrovic 10 (5/8 two points), Lazic, Kalinic 20 (7/10 two points, 1/2 three points, 3/4 shots, 6 rebounds), Dobrich 5 (1), Hollins 10 (2), Ivanovic, Markovic 5 (1 three points, 6 assists) , White 8 (6 rebounds) ), Kuzmit’s 2

Unics Kazan team statistics: 18/34 two points, 11/20 three points, 8/10 shots, 26 rebounds (21 defensive – 5 offensive), 19 assists, 7 steals, 2 blocks, 18 errors

The red star stats: 23/39 two points, 8/16 three points, 14/17 shots, 25 rebounds (20 defensive – 5 offensive), 19 assists, 7 steals, 2 blocks, 18 errors

The next games of the two teams: In the 27th game, Unics Kazan will play Baskonia in Vitoria (24/2 at 21:30 CEST), while Red Star will come to Athens to face Panathinaikos (25/2 at 21:00 CEST).