The 25-year-old forward had a career-best performance against the London Lions
Mushidi leads Chemnitz to victory in London
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 13 of 18
Regular Season
group b
London LionsLDN
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NINERS ChemnitzNIN
group b
Overview
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It wasn't pretty, but Chemnitz NINERS got the job done in Round 13. Chemnitz grabbed its fourth consecutive victory by topping London 70-78 at the Copper Box. All of a sudden, Coach Rodrigo Pastore's team has a winning record, 7-6, and a two-victory gap over the Lions and ratiopharm ulm, who are both below the playoffs cut with 5-8 records.
It was a hard-fought battle in which Chemnitz limited its mistakes down the stretch and found a go-to guy in Corey Davis in the final minutes. Davis buried a critical three-pointer and added a driving basket that sealed the outcome, 70-76, with over a minute left. Both teams finished the game with 18 turnovers and neither of them shot the ball well from beyond the arc: the hosts made 8 of 26 three-pointers (30.6% 3FG) and Chemnitz buried 9 of 29 shots from downtown (31.0% 3FG).
Chemnitz missed center Amadou Sow for the first time this season and it was a significant absence, as Sow had been playing great recently, averaging 17.0 points and 6.0 rebounds for a PIR of 18.4 in the last five games. As always, injuries sometimes give opportunities to other players and Kostja Mushidi made the most of it.
Mushidi entered the game averaging 4.5 points and 1.5 rebounds for a PIR of 3.0 in 11 games. He played a near-perfect first half, striking twice from beyond the arc and making 5 of 6 shots for 12 points and a PIR of 13 before the break. Mushidi ended up setting career-highs in points (22), assists (5), steals (3) and PIR (26). Chemnitz needed a second scorer to work alongside the ever-reliable Kevin Yebo and Mushidi became his team's X-factor.
Yebo also delivered again, finishing the game with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists for a PIR of 21.
After the game, Coach Pastore revealed how he got Mushidi back on track: "Kostja has something to prove. He is not wasting this opportunity that he has been given We are tough and demanding on him. We have high expectations on him and he is not shying away from it. I am very proud of him," he said.
"We Had a video session with him yesterday and were a little bit tough. We were not happy with his performance in the last game and he answered like good players do, with actions. A very good game from him today."
"[I was focused on] playing team basketball, doing the right plays, trusting my teammates and just believing in myself. All the hard work I put in it showed today," Mushidi said after the game. "We got great character in our group. All the best to Amadou Sow, we missed him today, but we have character. It was a character win. I'm proud of the guys."
"This is a very resilient group with all the difficulties that we have. We are still here standing four out of four in the second round [second half of the regular season]. I am very proud of these guys," Coach Pastore said after the game. "In the end, we made the plays we needed to make."
