Samara, Saratov, Moscow will host 4 regular season games on Thursday.
Samara (Samara) vs Uralmash (Yekaterinburg)
Time: 19:00 (18:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Samara, SKK Dvorets Sporta
Broadcast: Match! Igra, TV Start, League website
Samara: In the last round Samara lost to Nizhny unexpectedly. The team starting five played below their capabilities: only Justin Roberson scored 21 points, while the rest of the starting four scored 16 points. This is the second game in a row when Samara’s offense was limited to 70 points, but if in the first Volga derby with Avtodor it was enough to win, Nizhny defeated Samara with a double-digit advantage. Even dominance in rebounds didn’t help Samara: the game result was decided by the team’s 20 turnovers compared to Nizhny 11. Considering that Uralmash is one of the best offensive team in March, another equally bad offensive performance could result in a second straight loss.
Uralmash: Before the game with Avtodor, Uralmash was the highest scoring team in March averaging 91.0 points. In the last game, the Yakaterinburg team scored 82 points, but defense prevented Avtodor from putting up a fight in the end. It’s interesting that Uralmash, unlike Samara, can get a strong performance from the starting five: they scored 76 points, while the bench scored only 6. The Yekaterinburg team leads the season series with Samara, having won 2 of 3 games, and a potential win in this game would improve the chances of winning Group B.
Avtodor (Saratov) vs MBA (Moscow)
Time: 19:30 (18:30 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Saratov, Saratov, DS Kristall
Broadcast: League website
Avtodor: Avtodor, which had a strong stretch after the New Year, slowed down in games against the Group B leaders, losing to both Uralmash and Samara. This is a very unusual performance for Avtodor – the last time the team failed to score more than 80 points was back in January against UNICS. Just after that, the Saratov team started a 7-game winning streak. Milenko Bogicevic team still has a chance to catch Samara and finish second in the Group. Avtodor has 3 games against opponents lower in the standings. The 15-0 run that the Saratov team created in a disappointing game against Uralmash showed that the team is capable of showing its basketball. It remains to be seen if Avtodor will start to come out of decrease this round.
MBA: The team suffered its last loss to Avtodor in early March. After that, the Moscow team had a very successful stretch, including 4 consecutive wins, including over group-leading Uralmash. Alexander Khomenko was even got into Team of the Round (10.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists). So, taking into consideration the small crisis, Vasily Karasev team can be the favorite in the next game, MBA has shown very solid defense: during their winning streak, the Moscow team never allowed opponents to score more than 80 points, and in the game against Astana repeated their second best defensive performance of the season – 54 points allowed.
CSKA (Moscow) vs. Zenit (St. Petersburg)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Megasport
Broadcast: Match! Igra, League website
CSKA: After very confident wins over PARMA and Loko, CSKA surprised their fans by losing to Enisey at home. By the way, at that point the Siberian team had never won in the second stage. After the game, Emil Rajkovic noted that the team should feel shame after such losses. It was a very disappointing game for the Moscow team, even without regard to the result: CSKA had lowest scoring game of the season (65), with only Amath M’Baye and Melo Trimble scoring more than 10 points, Olivier Hanlan also had a very good game.
Zenit: Zenit also lost the last game, but in the end – the fate of the game against UNICS was decided literally in the final seconds. Zenit had an almost 100% chance to win, but one of the best free throw shooter in the League Thomas Heurtel missed both attempts in the end. In general, Zenit is very confident in the February-March stretch. CSKA can only be considered a conditional favorite due to the home court advantage and due to the extra motivation to rehabilitate in front of the fans for a humiliating home loss. In the last rivalry between the best offense and the best defense of the season, the St. Petersburg team was better, allowing CSKA to score only 71 points.
Runa (Moscow) vs Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, DS Dynamo
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Runa: The Vikings’ 5-game losing streak could have continued in Minsk, where the hosts looked very confident throughout most of the game. But Ilia Popov performance (25 points – the career-high), as well as Juwan Morgan, Runa still managed to win. But now the Moscow team will face Nizhny, which converts quality play into winning results. The previous game between the teams is a good example: Runa played great defense, led by double digits, but in the last quarter allowed Nizhny to score as much in 10 minutes as they did in the entire first half.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: At the end of the season Nizhny Novgorod finally played the way they know how to play, which is not hindered even by the abundance of injuries. In March, Zoran Lukic team played 6 games and lost only to Avtodor, with a solid win over Samara. In the game with the favorite, Nizhny played super active in defense, constantly provoking the opponents to make turnovers, pressing and maintaining a high pace. By all appearances, the team is in good shape, which means Nizhny may well make a final assault to the play-in zone. Nizhny Novgorod chances of making it to the next stage of the season are noticeably higher now than they were in February. In case of a win over Runa and a loss to MBA in this round, Nizhny Novgorod will equalize with both Moscow teams. At the same time, Nizhny has 3 home games ahead and a road game with MINSK, which has never given the Volga team any serious problems this season.
