My friend Stepan a few weeks ago offered to accompany me to a Professional Basketball game in Saratov and I enthusiastically agreed....
They are called Saratov Avtodor and are quite good! They lead their league and even have two American players, Courtney Fortson a point guard, and Raymond Sikes a power forward.
After my class on Saturday morning, a couple of my students, Dmitri and Sergei, also invited me to attend as well, so we all met up at the Arena, which is about a 3 minute walk from my apartment.
Dmitri bought tickets and soon we were watching a high quality basketball game! The only real deficiency in Russian b-ball is that outside shooting is a bit sub-par. This is not a problem for me---the game was well played, physical, good defense. There is a very promising young center, Artyum Klimenko, strong, athletic, great post moves.Both Dmitri and Sergei say he has declared for the NBA draft. He and Fortson have a great chemistry. Fortson, the point guard, is amazingly quick, a great passer and defender. They were some good dunks. Saratov won pretty easily.
Game is very similar to the American version----25 second shot clock, 3 point arc, 10 minute quarters. Crowd was pretty into the game. One difference, those annoying Vuvulzela mini-horns from South African World Cup fame, are a bit popular and caused some racket.
Pictures to follow.
They are called Saratov Avtodor and are quite good! They lead their league and even have two American players, Courtney Fortson a point guard, and Raymond Sikes a power forward.
After my class on Saturday morning, a couple of my students, Dmitri and Sergei, also invited me to attend as well, so we all met up at the Arena, which is about a 3 minute walk from my apartment.
Dmitri bought tickets and soon we were watching a high quality basketball game! The only real deficiency in Russian b-ball is that outside shooting is a bit sub-par. This is not a problem for me---the game was well played, physical, good defense. There is a very promising young center, Artyum Klimenko, strong, athletic, great post moves.Both Dmitri and Sergei say he has declared for the NBA draft. He and Fortson have a great chemistry. Fortson, the point guard, is amazingly quick, a great passer and defender. They were some good dunks. Saratov won pretty easily.
Game is very similar to the American version----25 second shot clock, 3 point arc, 10 minute quarters. Crowd was pretty into the game. One difference, those annoying Vuvulzela mini-horns from South African World Cup fame, are a bit popular and caused some racket.
Pictures to follow.
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