Krasnoyarsk and Moscow will host 2 regular season games on Saturday.
Enisey (Krasnoyarsk Region) vs Zenit (Saint Petersburg)
Time: 18:00 (14:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Arena Sever
Broadcast: VK Video, VTB League website
Enisey: The Krasnoyarsk team secured the first win of the season in the last round, beating Pari NN on the road. Although Enisey deserved this win much earlier in the season. Now, the Siberian team will try to put together the first winning streak of the season. To do so, Jovica Arsic team need to be more aggressive in offense (70.4 points per game – second from bottom in the League, with Zenit leading with 88.7 points per game). Artem Antipov and Danilo Tasic are in excellent shape and hope of Krasnoyarsk team fans.
Zenit: After the disappointing loss to CSKA, Zenit has won 4 games in a row, picking up momentum and joining the fight at the top. A win in Krasnoyarsk would allow the St. Petersburg team to catch up with leaders UNICS and CSKA in number of wins. Another piece of positive is the return of Sergey Karasev, who has already warmed up in the battle against BETCITY PARMA. However, the overall injury situation remains difficult. The biggest loss is Alex Poythress, who tore his ACL and is out for the rest of the season. Georgy Zhbanov, Nenad Dimitrijevic and Andre Roberson have recently been working on individual programs.
CSKA (Moscow) vs Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar)
Time: 19:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Megasport
Broadcast: VK Video, VTB League website
CSKA: In the last round, the Moscow team surpassed BETCITY PARMA in longest current winning streak in the League – 5 in a row. As Andreas Pistolis said after the win over Uralmash: «Today, everything depended on us. We approached the game with aggression, leaving our opponents no chance». When the reigning champion play with maximum motivation, opponents have a very difficult time. The crucial Game of the Week against Lokomotiv Kuban is one of those situations when the Moscow team will not need any additional motivation.
Lokomotiv Kuban: The Krasnodar team looks confident against teams from the bottom of the standings, winning 5 of last 6 games. The clash against CSKA will start a difficult series – Zenit, BETCITY PARMA, MBA-MAI and Uralmash – when the team will have to reach a new level this season to confirm ambitions.
