Saratov, Krasnodar and St. Petersburg will host 3 regular season games on Sunday.
Avtodor (Saratov) vs Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod)
Time: 14:00 (13:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Saratov, DS Kristall
Broadcast: League website
Avtodor: Milenko Bogicevic team is undefeated in the second stage, settling for third place in Group B. The Saratov team has finished the last 3 games with a 20 points average differential. Building the game around the bigmen has helped Avtodor rto make it to the Top 3 in field goal percentage. The team has gained momentum and has every chance to extend winning streak against Nizhny, which it has already beaten twice in the first stage. In addition, Nizhny Novgorod will have to play third game in 4 days, which may have a negative impact on the players’ conditioning.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Nizhny will face a principal rival in the Volga derby. Zoran Lukic team has lost to the Saratov team twice this season, but both games were played with the old roster. Since the last game between the 2 teams, Nizhny Novgorod has undergone significant changes, with Kendall Smith and Uladzislau Blizniuk replacing Bryon Allen and Glenn Cosey, Andrey Vorontsevich and Mikhail Belenitskii returning from injury. Current roster is much more stable. For revenge, Pari NN needs to continue to use better defense in the paint to stop Rayshawn Hammonds, who scored 29 points in the last game between these teams and played a key role in Avtodor win.
Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar) vs CSKA (Moscow)
Time: 14:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match! Igra, TV Start, League website
Lokomotiv Kuban: The Krasnodar team end the losing streak with a convincing win over Enisey on the road. Jaylen Barford scored 25+ points for the second consecutive game, and Vladislav Emchenko had a career-high 21-point performance. That’s why Loko is highly motivated and prepared to play against the principal rival from Moscow. Loko is the only team that has never lost to CSKA this season, and the current winning streak over the Army team has already reached 4 games. In the first stage, both games had tense endings, so equal game should be expected. But the home court factor will help Aleksander Sekulic team, as all of the current Top-3 teams have already been defeated at Basket Hall this season.
CSKA: The Army team started the second stage with 3 straight losses, which caused losing the top spot to UNICS. The Moscow team performance crisis is due to roster restructuring – Casper Ware is out due to injury, but Nikita Kurbanov and rookie Olivier Hanlan came in. Emil Rajkovic has to adapt the team’s game in new conditions and look for new offensive leaders. At the same time, the losses are not due to a lack of chemistry, but to a lack of concentration in the endings. Despite these factors, CSKA is still a formidable opponent, with the League’s top scoring offense (86.7) and leading the League in assists (20.3). Loko will have an advantage in size, as Tonye Jekiri, Livo Jean-Charles and Amath M’Baye form one of the most powerful frontcourts in Group A.
Zenit (St. Petersburg) vs Enisey (Krasnoyarsk)
Time: 16:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, St. Petersburg, CSC Arena
Broadcast: Match! Igra, TV Start, League website
Zenit: Zenit got revenge against CSKA and Loko, and also confidently defeated PARMA to move back to third in the standings. Xavier Pascual redistributed playing time and started using a wider rotation, which resulted in a more varied offense. Coming off the bench, Bojan Dubljevic is having one of his best stretches of the season, averaging 12 points. Zenit defense is still the best in the League, allowing no more than 73 points in the last 3 games. All these factors make the team the favorites for the upcoming game, but to win Zenit need to find a way to stop Jeremiah Martin, who scored 26 and 27 points in the games of these teams in the first stage.
Enisey: Jovica Arsic team started the second stage with 3 consecutive losses. The team offense is still built around Jeremiah Martin and Xavier Rathan-Mayes duo, who score an average of 45 points. But the leaders do not bring wins to the team due to the lack of support for rotation players and problems on defense. The Krasnoyarsk team has allowed 100+ points twice in a row, and bench players have scored less than 20% of the team’s points in the last 2 games. It won’t be easy to outperform Zenit, but Enisey already accomplished this task in February. The Siberian team scored 91 points against the League’s best defense with offensive support of Mikel Hopkins and Sergey Balashov. The team can play well in offense and have a chance to end the losing streak.
