Former NBA coach Eric Musselman, recently completed a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia and provided Interbasket with the exclusive details of his trip.

Part two of Eric Musselman’s Russia trip notes can be found below.  To read part one click here

Sunday, September 27th
3:00pm: Warmest weather day yet.  Overcast but weather was the perfect temperature. 

Consolation game: 3rd place Kazan Unics 88  -  Angola 49. This was a tough game to watch, as Angola was totally outplayed. 

Angola struggled to score vs Unics zone defense.  The zone was compact and kept Angola from getting points in the paint. Defensively, they were picked apart in both their man-to-man defense, and in the second half, their zone gave up a ton of open three-point looks. 

Talented guard Terrell Lyday was limited with a sprained ankle. #8 Artem Kouziakine had a terrific game for Kazan. Angola’s best player in the tournament was their captain, point guard Milton Barrosh.

If I were to make a comparison based on these two games, Angola  has some talented players but would have trouble with a mid-major NCAA team like West Coast Conference’s St Mary’s Gaels.

5:30pm: Championship game:  Siena 95 – Spartak 75 

Can’t imagine many teams in Europe  better than Siena at this point of the year. 
My MVP for the Tournament was Siena’s Henry Domercant

For Siena – Shaun Stonerook does a great job as a four-man of having the ball swing on ball reversals.  He is not a numbers guy but really gets extra possessions off loose balls and boards. Romain Sato is a tough player to defend off weakside slice, cuts into the post. 

Siena has a ton of depth and a strong rotation off the bench.  Turning point in game was in the first half when Spartak went to the bench and both Fields and Milovan Rakovic rested for about 3 – 4 minutes.

The Hawks ended the season with eight free agents and re-signed Mike Bibby and Zaza Pucuhlia, added combo guard Jamal Crawford and drafted Jeff Teague.