Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar and Kazan will host 3 regular season games on Saturday.
Enisey (Krasnoyarsk) vs Runa (Moscow)
Time: 15:00 (11:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Arena Sever
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
Enisey: The Krasnoyarsk team ended the home games streak with a sensational win over UNICS. The team’s offense wasn’t only concentrated on Xavier Rathan-Mayes this time – Vladimir Karpenko and Sergey Balashov set career-highs (16 and 17 points). That was the 6th 90+ points game for Enisey, moving the team into the Top 4 in average scoring. Jovica Arsic system is working: the Siberian team has agreed a contract with the Serbian specialist for 1 more season. An extended head coach and a hot offense give the team a good chance to stay in the Top 5 and defeat Runa.
Runa: Erturul Erdogan team has won only 1 of the last 5 games, dropping to 9th place in the standings. An important reason for this is offense – Runa has never managed to score more than 80 points over the last month. The Moscow team is in the Top 2 in turnovers per game, which reduces amount of shots attempted. But the team continues make shots with good percentage (46.8%). Shooting could be the key to win versus Enisey.
Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar) vs CSKA (Moscow)
Time: 14:30 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match! Strana, TV Start, League website
Lokomotiv Kuban: After UNICS loss, the Krasnodar team 6-game winning streak became the longest active winning streak. Over the past month, Loko has had the best offense in the League, scoring an average 92 points. An important player in the team’s offense has been Andrey Martiuk, he scored 17 points on 100% shooting last game. In the game with CSKA, Martiuk will have to face the experienced bigmen, so it won’t be easy for Loko to win. But the last 3 games betweed these teams, the Krasnodar team won all of them. Aleksander Sekulic team is motivated to extend the winning streak.
CSKA: Emil Rajkovic team clinched to the Playoffs after the win over Samara. But Loko gave the Moscow team only home loss in the first stage so far. However, CSKA has everything to beat their principal rival this time. Amath M’Baye and Tonye Jekiri are dominating in the paint. CSKA offense remains varied, 5 players averaging 10+ points per game, which along with good ball movement (21 assists per game) allows the team to maintain its status as the League’s best scoring. The Army team will have to take revenge for their past losses.
Time: 18:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match! Igra, TV Start, League website
UNICS: The Kazan team will play their first home game after a road trip that didn’t end well, as Enisey snapped 7-game winning streak. The team place in the standings became more unstable – Zenit and Loko are 1 win away from the reigning champion. But Velimir Perasovic team remains one of the best in the League, showing disciplined basketball. UNICS has the best steals-to-turnover ratio and is in the Top 2 in commited fouls per game. In addition, UNICS has never lost 2 in a row this season. Therefore, the team has every chance to rehabilitate at home against PARMA.
PARMA: Evgeny Pashutin team maintains its place in the Top 6, but Samara has the same ratio (11-10), so every win has great value. The fate of the Perm team recent games was decided in overtime and comebacks in regulations (13-point against Zenit and 16-point against Astana comebacks). B.J. Johnson was the key player of both games with an average 27 points. In addition to Johnson, who ranks in the Top 4 in scoring, Isaiah Reese plays an important role in offense and averages 6.5 assists per game. PARMA leaders are in good shape, which means the team will be able to give the reigning champion a fight despite last 2 games results.
