Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Kazan and Moscow will host regular season games on Wednesday.
Enisey (Krasnoyarsk) vs CSKA (Moscow)
Time: 19:00 (15:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Arena Sever
Broadcast: Match! Igra, Start Triumph, League website
Enisey: Last round, Enisey confirmed the main sensation status with 6th home game win. The game with Samara was a milestone for the Krasnoyarsk team. After scoring 103 points, Enisey made it to the 100 for the first time in 4 years. Xavier Rathan-Mayes showed his skills once again. He missed 1 of 10 free throws, and that was just 1 point short of making his another 30. Mikel Hopkins and Jeremiah Martin, who both scored over 20 points, supported the top scorer of the regular season.
CSKA: Enisey game with CSKA is interesting because it will break one of the streaks that have lasted since the start of the season. While Enisey has never lost at home, CSKA is undefeated on the road. The game with the Siberian team ends the Army team extra-long 5-game road streak. So far, the AMosocw team has 4 wins in the series, including a win in Astana. In the game against Oleg Kiselev team, the Army team repeated the season-high 112 points set against MINSK. The win was also their biggest of the season (34). Interestingly enough, not a single starter played more than 20 minutes against Astana, so despite the many flights, the Army team had time to regain. In addition, before the game, CSKA loaned center Sergey Kliuev from MBA.
PARMA (Perm) vs Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar)
Time: 19:00 (17:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: Match! Igra, TV Start, League website.
PARMA: After the game against MBA, Evgeny Pashutin stated that his team is finding the kind of game that PARMA is striving for. It’s hard to disagree with the coach. PARMA demonstrated almost perfect defense, not letting the opponent to score 60 points for the first time in the season. In addition, the Perm team confirmed the League’s best rebounding team status. For the second time in the season, PARMA got 50 rebounds in a game, an achievement no other team has yet got. Isaiah Reese made it to the Team of the Round with 22 points performance
Lokomotiv Kuban: The Game of the Week between Loko and UNICS was insane. By halftime, Loko was trailing by 20, scoring only 26 points in the half, but in the third quarter, the hosts gradually got hot and made their biggest comeback of the season. At the same time, Loko clearly showed how it can handle teams like UNICS – with a powerful and versatile front court that can pressure in the paint and rebounding. With these factors PARMA has already defeated Loko in Krasnodar this season – 42 rebounds to Loko’s 27. However, DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, who is the MVP of November did not play in that game. The forward had 19 points against UNICS.
UNICS (Kazan) vs Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod)
Time: 19:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match TV, TV Start, League website
UNICS: After a tough loss in Krasnodar, UNICS dropped to third place, tied with Loko in wins, but still ahead due to fewer games. A win over Nizhny is a good opportunity to rehabilitate in front of the fans for the loss to Loko and keep Zenit close. At the same time, even despite different places of these teams in the standings, Nizhny may prove to be a tough team for UNICS to beat. The Kazan team has already had the negative experience of losing to Nizhny Novgorod this season, or more precisely, in the SuperCup – then Zoran Lukic team defeated UNICS in the Quarterfinals. However, the best player of that game Dmitrii Khvostov is still out.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: The losing streak finally came to an end against MINSK. Symbolically, Ivan Strebkov returned to the lineup and made his first double-double since 2020 (19 points and 11 assists), making his way into the Team of the Round. However, Vladimir Ivlev is not now. The Volga team management continues to look for opportunities to urgently strengthen the team: Filipp Gafurov was taken on loan from CSKA, who should add height to Nizhny. An interesting storyline of the game with UNICS will be the return of Anton Ponkrashov, who had 8 points and 4 rebounds against MINSK.
MBA (Moscow) vs Avtodor (Saratov)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
MBA: Vasily Karasev started the press conference after the game against PARMA with the words “One of our worst games of the season”. It’s no surprise – the Moscow team had the less scoring game (56 points). Often after such games, the losing team goes into the next game as if it were the last battle, especially at home. By the way, the game against Avtodor in the first round was one of the best MBA performances – at least in offense. MBA scored 87 points (the second season-high), and 6 players got 10 points. MBA rotation completely outplayed the Saratov team.
Avtodor: Since the first game between these teams, Milenko Bogicevic team has suffered a very serious loss – the team parted ways with their best scorer Kyle Vinales, who scored 17 points in that game. However, Avtodor won 4 games without their former leader, and one with him in the lineup. In Vinales absence, Rayshawn Hammonds has become the team’s leader – 29 points against MINSK, 23 points in the win versus Runa, and a double-double in the game with PARMA. But the game with MBA in the first round was very poor – the American bigman quickly fouled out with only 6 points.
