Astana, Perm and Saratov will host regular season games on Sunday.
Astana (Astana) vs CSKA (Moscow)
Time: 15:00 (12:00 Moscow time)
Place: Kazakhstan, Astana, Velotrack Saryarka
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Astana: Astana home winning series has ended against Runa. However, the Kazakh team had a chance to extend it, leading by 20 at the halftime, but allowed the Vikings to make a comeback and lost in overtime. And although Astana will play at home again on Sunday, it won’t be easy to start a new winning streak as this time the opponent is not a newcomer, but the League leader. Astana has never beaten its former coach Emil Rajkovic team in the United League, losing all 27 games.
CSKA: Just 3 days after beating UNICS, the Army team continued their Volga tour with a win in Nizhny Novgorod. CSKA was visibly tired, but Nizhny managed to pull the Army team into the ending and even had had a real chance to break its long losing streak. But rotation problems helped CSKA. Anton Astapkovich, who is always highly motivated in games against his former team, was the Moscow team best scoring player in this game. The Army team forward scored 18 points, his second best game of the season.
Time: 16:00 (14:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: Match! Igra, Start Triumph, League website.
PARMA: In the last 3 games, PARMA beat Astana and pulled out a win in Saratov. That helped the Perm team to improve standings place. With 5 wins, PARMA shares 10th-11th place with their MBA. The win over Avtodor was a real star moment for Aleksandr Platunov, who made a huge contribution at the end and set a career-high with 28 points. By the way, it was the first time in the season that Aleksandr made over 20 points. PARMA guard was included in the Team of the Round.
MBA: Despite a brilliant performance by Platunov-Johnson-Reese trio, the win over Avtodor was not easy for PARMA – in fact, the Perm team played with only 5 players, who scored 91 of the team’s 93 points. Only Ruslan Abdulbasirov came from the bench, and the rest of the players were on the floor for 1-2 minutes. This could play in MBA favor, as the Moscow team plays with a much wider rotation. Vasily Karasev team may well keep a high pace throughout the game. However, the Moscow team couldn’t do that in November game, as Vladislav Perevalov shined for the Perm team.
Avtodor (Saratov) vs Runa (Moscow)
Time: 17:00 (16:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Saratov, DS Kristall
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
Avtodor: After a win against MINSK, the Saratov team failed to win once again. After losing to PARMA, Avtodor continue to share place in the standings with Nizhny. Milenko Bogicevic was able to compensate Kyle Vinales with Vasilije Pusica, who wasn’t given much playing time at the beginning of the season, but has become one of the brightest offensive players in recent games. The problem is that the offense is offset by poor defense. Runa is one of the best scoring teams in the League (80.8 points – 6th place), so Avtodor coaching staff needs to think hard about their defensive tactics.
Runa: The Moscow team played probably their most memorable game in the United League. In Astana, where the hosts hadn’t lost since October 14, the Vikings were down by 20, but made a remarkable comeback and got the win in overtime. Erturul Erdogan said that he is very proud of his players, because they fight in every game regardless of the circumstances they find ourselves in. However, attitude is attitude, but the key factor was Runa 16 offensive rebounds – the Moscow team season-high.
