Astana, Perm and Moscow will host the regular season games on Wednesday.
Astana (Astana, Kazakhstan) vs Avtodor (Saratov, Russia)
Time: 20:00 (17:00 Moscow time)
Place: Astana, Kazakhstan, Velotrek Saryarka
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
Astana: The Kazakh team looked confident against Zenit and then proved their ambitions by beating Nizhny on the road for the first time since 2011. Astana clearly intends to make some noise this season and get at least to the play-in, if not higher. Royce Hamm was a big transfer success: the center has scored 20 points in two straight games, and his Markell Johnson duo can cause a lot of trouble for any opponent.
Avtodor: If Astana is just getting started, Avtodor needs to be critical to success on the road. With one win in five games, the Volga team have dropped to the bottom of the standings. After the game against CSKA, coach Milenko Bogicevic noted that the team didn’t fall at all: that’s true in the game context, but Avtodor lost that game. If the Saratov team won’t win in the capital of Kazakhstan, the situation for them will be extremely complicated – ahead the game versus UNICS.
PARMA (Perm, Russia) vs. Uralmash (Yekaterinburg, Russia)
Time: 19:30 (17:30 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
PARMA: PARMA is approaching the Ural derby in a great mood. The Perm team broke the losing streak and also showed the kind of passion Evgeny Pashutin always wants from his teams. In the game against MINSK, the team managed to make a 10-point comeback and won the game. In the next three games, it’s very important for PARMA to pick up at least two wins – the team will face Zenit and UNICS next. However, the Perm team has enough strength to put up a fight against any opponent. For example, Richard Solomon had his best game of the season against MINSK, scoring 17 points and getting 16 rebounds in 25 minutes (the current season high).
Uralmash: The League newcomer passed the test against Zenit, but another title contender UNICS had no trouble against Uralmash. Although Uralmash start looked quite competitive, Milos Pavicevic team bench was unable to maintain the proper level, scoring only 12 points. Octavius Ellis has been a great addition, but the key problem for Uralmash coaching staff is figuring out what’s going on with Josh Perkins’ shooting. The Yekaterinbyrg team guard is now scoring just over 5 points per game with a catastrophic percentage: 16.1% two-pointers and 15.0% three-pointers It’s been five days since Uralmash last game, so Milos Pavicevic has had time to solve this problem – without a dramatic improvement in Perkins’ scoring, his team’s offence will suffer noticeably.
CSKA (Moscow, Russia) vs MINSK (Minsk, Belarus)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Megasport
Broadcast: Match! Igra, TV Start, League website
CSKA: The last game of the day will feature teams with mirror places – 5 wins without a loss for CSKA and no wins in 5 games for their opponents. Of course, Emil Rajkovic is unlikely to let his team to play without motivation, but something unusual has to happen to CSKA to miss a win. So far in the 26-game rivalry history, the Army team hasn’t given up a single game to the Minsk team. In the game against Avtodor, Rajkovic gave Nikita Mikhailovskii a chance to prove, and the young guard was very successful against his former team, scoring 9 points and 4 rebounds in 15 minutes with 100 percent shooting.
MINSK: After the game against PARMA, Rostislav Vergun praised his team despite the loss, noting that it was the most meaningful game of the season for MINSK. Minsk did look good, showing high dedication, and led by 10 before the final quarter, but they couldn’t hold on to a potential win – also because the team’s main star, Jarred Ogungbemi-Johnson (6-of-21 from the game), was clearly off. Of course, the Belarusian team now faces a much more powerful and experienced opponent than PARMA, but MINSK will surely try to maintain the same level of motivation.
