On Friday, Astana and Perm will host 2 regular season games.
Astana (Astana) – CSKA (Moscow)
Time: 19:30 (16:30 Moscow time)
Place: Kazakhstan, Astana, Saryarka
Broadcast: TV Start Triumph, Match! Igra, League website
Astana: According to the 1.5 months of the season, the Kazakh team won only 1 game. And the changes did not come: Astana parted with Deondre Parks and signed two other foreign guards – Markell Johnson and Kwame Won. The 2 week pause caused by the Kazakhstan national team games, the last game of Astana in the United League was on November 5, should benefit both the newcomers and the whole team. However, the first test for the recruits will be incredibly difficult – CSKA is flying to the capital of Kazakhstan, which has never lost to Astana.
CSKA: The Army team is the best team of the season at the moment. The Moscow team has won 10 games in a row and are leading the League in points (95.7), rebounds (40.5), assists (22.9) and shots percentage (54.0%). A trip to Astana should not be a problem for Emil Rajkovic team and the main enemy may be underestimating. For sure, the rotation players will get more time, while the leaders will be able to rest and take a little rest after a busy schedule.
PARMA-PARI (Perm) – Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod)
Time: 20:00 (18:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
PARMA-PARI: 3 losses in a row thrown the Perm team to 8th place and if the team wants to get into the Top-6 of the 1st Stage of the regular season, then it is simply necessary to beat rivalries. One of them is Nizhny Novgorod. Almost all PARMA-PARI leaders are healthy – only Tylor Ongwae is still injured. An additional advantage will be home croud – it is always noisy at the games in Molot and this time there may have a sold-out: almost 6000 tickets have already been sold the day before the game with Nizhny Novgorod. It will be interesting to watch the duel of American scorers: Bryon Allen and Justin Roberson against Jermaine Love.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Zoran Lukic team cannot find stability. This is partly due to injuries. But Dragan Apic has returned this week and it should be a little easier to play against PARMA–PARI front court. The Volga team should pay attention to ball control: Pari NN loose the ball a lot (16.9), which affects the team’s performance. And in the game of 2 qequal team, it is likely that the details will depend on result of the game.
