You are reading the material: a special project “The best games of Russians in the NBA”, prepared by the publication “Championship”. You can familiarize yourself with the rest of the project materials by following the link or by clicking on the plate below.
Situations when two Russians played simultaneously on one NBA team did not happen very often. We can recall the Cleveland champions Timofey Mozgov and Alexander Kaun, the friendly duo of Sergei Monya and Viktor Khryapa in Portland, as well as several other cases. One of them occurred in the 2012/2013 season in the Minnesota Timberwolves team. For Rick Adelman’s team, Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved played, who recently won a historic bronze medal together at the London Olympics.
Kirilenko returned to the NBA from Russia, where he spent a couple of years with CSKA, taking advantage of a special clause in his contract. He spent the season as a starter, averaging 12.4 points per game. The Swede had just been drafted by the team and was playing his first season in the North American League as a bench scorer.
Andrey Kirilenko and Alexey Shved at the 2012 Olympics
Photo by: RIA Novosti
At the start of the season, Minnesota faced the Golden State Warriors, led by Mark Jackson. It is this season that the team will reach the playoff level and move on to the second round. Curry will have his first truly stellar year of his career.
The game took place on November 16, 2012. Both teams entered the game with a positive record of wins and losses (5-4). Curry started the game strong, making two mid-range shots. Yes, at that time he and Thompson were taking them much more frequently: the three-point revolution was just beginning.
However, Minnesota took the lead in the first quarter and held on to it for some time. Alexey Shved scored his first points 10 minutes before the break, executing a beautiful mid-range shot after running forward. After 40 seconds, the Russian defender boldly scored a three-pointer in front of Draymond Green.
The video can be viewed on the DownToBuck Highlights Archivium YouTube channel. The video is copyrighted by NBA MEDIA VENTURES, LLC.
Then Alexey managed to complete a counterattack after a strong interception, scored a finish and drew a foul on Jarrett Jack. Minnesota’s lead reached double digits. It is worth noting Alexey’s excellent work in playmaking – he will finish the match with seven assists. “Golden State” began to get closer to the opponent. Curry caught Kirilenko for an offensive foul, after which Andrey reacted with a sarcastic smile to the referee’s decision, and Stephen immediately broke through and put his team ahead – 53:50 at the big break.
The Warriors’ advance continued in the second half. Stephen stole the ball from Ridnour and completed the fast break with an easy one-handed dunk. You won’t see anything like that from Curry these days! The Swede soon came onto the court to save the day. The Californians were ahead by more than 10 points, so Alexey became bolder in his shots and independently created space for himself, making open shots. The game stabilized, but not for long.
The video can be viewed on the NBASeasonPlayoffs YouTube channel. The video is copyrighted by NBA MEDIA VENTURES, LLC.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Warriors’ lead reached 15 points, and it was at that moment that Shved scored a beautiful three-pointer with a foul! This helped Minnesota get its act together and the gap in the score began to fade. An especially nice moment came six minutes before the final siren, when the Swede stormed to the goal line, made a great pass to Kirilenko, who was open, and scored an important three-pointer. Russian connection!
The Swede earned the right to play until the end with his game, but Minnesota failed to complete the comeback. Golden State won 106:98. However, Kirilenko and Shved were the best for Minnesota, which was nice to see. Alexey has 22 points and seven assists, and Andrey has 18 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots. Unfortunately, Minnesota failed to make the playoffs that season. Then Kirilenko left for Brooklyn, and Shved’s role in the next season decreased – they stopped trusting him.
As part of our special project, we have repeatedly asked ourselves why almost all worthy Russian players failed to build a successful career in the NBA, despite the obvious presence of talent. This match is yet another confirmation of our bewilderment. Two Russians led the entire team against those who in a couple of years would conquer the entire league and lead a revolution.
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