In the regular season game Khimki will host UNICS.
Where:
Russia, Khimki, Sports center BCMO (capacity 4000 spectators)
When:
November 3, 2019, 15:00 (15:00 MSK)
Broadcasts:
Match TV, VTB United League Site
Frame from the past
Egor Vyaltsev and Sergey Monya (Khimki) are trying steal the ball from Keith Langford (UNICS)
Face to face:
The rivalry of Khimki and UNICS has long been principal. The teams held many memorable battles, the last of which was in the 2019 playoffs. Khimki were losing in the semi final series 0-1, but won three victories in a row and reached to the final. In the regular season 2018/19, Khimki and UNICS exchanged home victories – 78:65 at the Khimki’s home and 73:58 in Tatarstan. The total score of the standoff is 13: 9 in favor of Khimki.
Intrigue
Khimki started the season perfectly. They are the only League’s team which is going without any defeats (5-0). For instance, UNICS hardly returned to the neutral balance sheet in Minsk, where they beat Tsmoki Minsk 84:80 and made it to 2-2. For the Khimki this will be the first meeting with a representative of the Big Five in the new season. Despite injuries and a tight schedule, Khimki quickly reached their designed performance and will try to maintain their perfect stat. UNICS certainly do not want to return to a negative result and hope to take revenge for the defeat in the playoffs.
Previous week
Dimitris Priftis at the start of the season often repeated that the team immediately got into a difficult schedule with many flights, while suffering from injuries. The current week, finally, gave Kazan the opportunity for a pause. On Wednesday, they played in Istanbul with Darussafaka and pulled out a victory in clutch – 79:77.
Khimki are coming to an important game after one of those weeks when the Euroleague schedule involves two games in three days. Khimki was not fully prepared for such a test. On Tuesday, Khimki confidently beat Panathinaikos at home (103: 86), but on Thursday on the road they were defeated by Crvena Zvezda (78:90), and were down by 27 points.
They have spent a lot of energy, but overall the team is in good shape and looks very convincing. UNICS, despite the victories in the last two games, are still far from the best basketball and are unstable.
Not in my house
Khimki and UNICS are the leaders of the League in the block shots. Khimki block opponents with 4,2 per game, the average figure of Kazan is 3,5.
Accents
Khimki are second in the League in terms of scoring with 89,0 points, UNICS is third from the end (76,3). Exactly the same disposition in assists (20,9 vs 15,0).
Upgrade
On Wednesday, UNICS announced the signing of Jamil Wilson.
28-year-old forward has en expirience of playing for Clippers, and last season he played for Torino in Italy.
The contract is signed for two months with the option of extension until the end of the season. The American foreign player has not yet been announced in the League.
Power up
When Priftis complained about injuries, he was probably the first to think about Raymar Morgan. In the League forward has played so far only one game – against Astana on October 6. In a duel with Darussafaka, an important performer for Priftis returned to duty, gaining 18 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
Familiar faces
Valery Likhodey have returned to UNICS, he played for Khimki in the 2016/17 season.
Match up
Alexey Shved vs Errick McCollum.
McCollum leads the League scoring race – 21,0 points per game. The Swede is very close (20,0 points), but took part in two games and is not yet included in the official statistics. It is unlikely that such bureaucratic nuances will mislead someone: a duel of top snipers will take place on Sunday.
Russian and American come to the shootout fully ready. The Swede asserted himself in the Euroleague this week: 26 points and 7 assists in a game against Pao, 14 points and 4 assists against Crvena Zvezda. MVP of the 4th round of the European Cup, in the 5th McCollum gave his team an important victory over Darussafaka with a buzzer-beater.
Comments
The head coach of Khimki Rimas Kurtinaitis:
– UNICS is a good team that has changed a little compared to last year, although
the main players – Morgan, Smith and McCollum – remained. They make the result, and they need special attention. Smith scores well, McCollum is one of the best point guards in Europe, Morgan is a good and strong “big” player, which last year caused us many problems. We must try to cope with this trinity.
The head coach of UNICS Dimitris Priftis:
– It will be a difficult game on the road against very talented team with an excellent roster. Khimki is currently one of the most stable teams in Europe, they play especially well at home. They can score from any position, they have many options in offence. Therefore, we need to be very concentrated to prevent them from scoring easy points in transitions, offensive rebounds and three-pointers. In these components, they are probably the best in Europe.
