Moscow and Krasnodar will host 2 regular season games on Monday.
Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar) – Avtodor (Saratov)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket-Hall
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Lokomotiv Kuban: despite 2 losses in the last 3 games, the Krasnodar team is on the 5th place and can get in Top 4 if the team will beat Avtodor. Loko has already defeated the Saratov team this season on the road: then Loko scored their first and so far only 100 points in the season, and Andrey Martiuk set a career high in points– 25 points. Loko will strive to show the best game with Avtodor – especially after game with UNICS, which was not good for Lokomotiv.
Avtodor: 5 Avtoodor players could not play against CSKA. However, everyone except Aleksandr Petenev has already returned and is preparing to play in Krasnodar. Yes, in the previous game with Loko, Avtodor really could not stop the the Krasnodar team offense, but since then the head coach has changed in the team – and with him the game accents. Darko Russo has repeatedly noted that his Avtodor should focus on defense. A trip to Krasnodar will help to check whether the Saratov team had time to rebuild their defense.
CSKA (Moscow) – PARMA-PARI (Perm)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Megasport
Broadacasts: TV Start Triumph, Match! Igra, League website
CSKA: The Army team continues to be undefeated and leads the standings. In the last 3 games, CSKA won with 30 points or more, which once again proves the power of Emil Rajkovic system. Nikola Milutinov should be noted as he is in great shape – the bigman makes double-doubles in the last 6 games. In the game in Perm, CSKA managed to gain the lead only in the second half and won by 9 points – 83:74, demonstrating surprisingly low performance. The Moscow team will act more aggressively on defense and tried to make the Perm team to loose the ball more.
PARMA-PARI: November is not going well for the Perm team: in 5 games the team has 4 losses and the 8th place. Evgeniy Pashutin team urgently needs to improve defense, because the team cannot win without good defense. Of course, in the game in Moscow, PARMA-PARI will obviously not be the favorite, but the Perm team can show the character. A lot will depend on whether the team physical impact and whether PARMA will not let the Moscow team score a lot in the first quarter – after all, it will be extremely difficult to make a comeback.
