Favourites Unics Kazan have reached Friday’s Euroleague Qualifying Round finale in Belgium after they defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 82-71.
The Russians trailed 41-35 at half-time thanks to static offence, while allowing their Israeli counterparts to freely run sets and get easy baskets.
Kazan though made their move in the third quarter with a 13-2 spurt to take the lead at 48-46 and from there, they never looked back.
D’Or Fischer led Unics with 16 points, helped by 15 from both Nikos Zisis and Curtis Jerrells.
“Today we had two different games. The first half we played without our minds,” Unics coach Argiris Pedoulakis said. We tried to shoot the ball too quickly on the first possession. This made us nervous.
“At half time I told my players two things would make a difference. First, the patience. And second, swinging the ball to both sides. We performed this well in the second half with 13 assists, control of the rebounds and improved our defensive part of the game. Everybody played well; also our bench. We are not ready yet for the season, but improving.”
They will be joined by ASVEL who beat Strasbourg 74-65 in the all-French tie.
The side from Lyon looked reasonably comfortable until the third quarter when Strasbourg went on a 17-3 to open up an 8-point lead.
ASVEL ended the third with an 11-0 burst and went on to victory from there.
Taurean Green led ASVEL with an impressive double-double of 15 points and 12 assists. David Lighty also grabbed a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
