Krasnoyarsk, Kazan and Moscow will host 3 regular season games on Sunday.
Enisey (Krasnoyarsk region) vs Zenit (St. Petersburg)
Time: 17:00 (13:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Sever Arena
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Enisey: The Krasnoyarsk team go through a difficult schedule at the end of 2024 – after the game with CSKA in Moscow, Jovica Arsic team will face 2 more opponents from the Top 5. First up will be Zenit, who remain undefeated since mid-October. The Siberian team will have the home court factor as advantage. This season, Enisey has already managed to beat Pari NN at home and get Loko to the clutch ending, so the hosts fans have reason to expect a tight game.
Zenit: Xavier Pascual team go on the road for the first time in 2 weeks. Last season the team lost to Enisey in the first round at Arena Sever, but has already defeated the Siberian team this season. The statistics give the St. Petersburg team fans confidence – Zenit has better shooting and defensive aspects.
UNICS (Kazan) vs Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod)
Time: 14:00 Moscow time
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match TV, Start Triumph, League website
UNICS: The Kazan team got back to winning after the loss to Loko, beating Astana and Avtodor to move up to 4th place. Now the team has 2 games to play, which can affect the standings. The first will be versus Nizhny Novgorod. The Kazan team won first clash between the teams (81:73). UNICS is in the Top-2 in rebounding and outperforms Pari NN in average steals. In addition, the Kazan team will have home court support.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: After a nervous ending with MBA-MAI, Nizhny Novgorod confidently defeated Samara at home. The game was especially successful for Nizhny point guard duo – Zach Nutall had season-high 27 points and Aleksandr Khomenko made his first double-double. Sergey Kozin team has a good mood heading to Kazan. Pari NN tops the rankings in assists, which could be an advantage in the upcoming clash. In addition, the players will go into the game with a strong desire to get revenge for their home loss to UNICS in the first round.
CSKA (Moscow) vs MBA-MAI (Moscow)
Time: 17:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Megasport.
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
CSKA: The Moscow team confidently beat Enisey at home, with 19 of 28 long-range shots made. Now Andreas Pistiolis’ team will have to play another club outside the Playoffs zone. CSKA is ahead of MBA-MAI in average performance, rebounding and assists. The rivalry history is 8-0, CSKA won all head-to-head games.
MBA-MAI: MBA-MAI won 2 of 3 last games, but it won’t be easy to extend the winning streak. The team will face CSKA, Loko and UNICS, so the end of December will be a test of the strength. The key task will be defense against the opponent point guards, who are statistically superior to the MBA-MAI guards. The guests will need to stay focused on defense for the entire 40 minutes and using Andrey Zubkov, who continues to top the efficiency rating among Russian players.
