The VTB League regular season games will be in Moscow and Minsk on Monday.
MINSK (Minsk) – Avtodor (Saratov)
Time: 19:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Belarus, Minsk, Falcon Club
Broadcast: TV Start Triumph, League website
MINSK: The Belarusian team started the season with three consecutive losses and is currently last in the standings. MINSK can improve the situation already this Monday against Avtodor. The Minsk team are gradually finding their game and young players are starting to get used to responsibility and courage in decisions making on the court. For example, point guard Uladialsu Bliznyuk is already among the top three assistants of the League, having 7.3 assists. In the last game with MBA, Zach Smith was extremely effective: the center scored 20 points, and also made 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block.
Avtodor: But the Saratov team, despite two consecutive losses, is not so simple. Avtodor played well against Zenit for 25 minutes on the road and in the game with Pari NN almost made a 14-point comeback. The Volga team has a decent roster, 6 players score 9 or more points at once. Milos Pavicevic team are a little lacking in concentration after the halftime, but the coaching staff has a number of playerswho can bring Avtodor win in Minsk. The focus should be on Rada Zagorac: the forward of the Serbian national team made his debut for the Saratov club in St. Petersburg, but failed to show a lot, scoring only 3 points and 4 assists.
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Basket Hall
Broadcast: TV Start, Match! Igra, League website
CSKA: For the first time in their history, the Army team will play against MBA. CSKA knows their rivals well enough, because there are 5 players who played in the team previously. Evgeniy Voronov and even head coach Vasily Karasev also played for CSKA earlier. For the Army team, the Moscow derby will be another test. It will not be easy, there is no bright leader in MBA, but at the same time any player from the roster is ready to work out every second of his time on the court. CSKA Alexey Shved and Nikola Milutinov will have big responsibility because they score more than 30 points per game.
MBA: Unexpectedly for everyone, the newcomers made their debut in the VTB League with three consecutive wins and are now at the top of the standings. But CSKA is the most difficult opponent of all that MBA had in the League. Despite the fact that Vasily Karasev team is not the favorite of this game, it has advantages. One of them is freshness, because MBA spent the whole week at home, while CSKA made a difficult trip to Krasnodar in the middle of the week. If the League newcomer will hold the Army team in defense, MBA can make another surprise.
