In a regular season game Nizhny Novgorod will host UNICS.
Where:
Russia, Nizhny Novgorod, FOK Meschersky (capacity 1000 spectators)
When:
January 23, 2021, 17:00 (17:00 МSК)
Broadcast:
TV Start, VTB League web-site
Frame from the past
Face to face
UNICS are dominating in Volga derby, the score in the United League is 19:4 in UNICS favor. In last 10 games Kazan won 8. In the latest season UNICS beat NN twice, 89:85 in Basket Hall and 95:83 on the road.
The last time Nizhny beat UNICS (91:85) was 2 years ago, on January 26, 2019.
Last week
Nizhny Novgorod got into Champions League play-offs beating Falco at home (73:68). Indeed, play-offs started with this game, the winner goes to the next stage. Zoran Lukic said that it was one of the most important games of the season.
UNICS also had an important victory over Gran Canaria (73:62) in EuroCup Top-16 in Kazan. Tatarstan are starting off 2-0 at the group stage.
Intrigue
The game against UNICS probably won’t be the most crucial of the season for Nizhny but it is still important. After a confident 6-1 start NN lost in three consecutive games, two times it was blowout against CSKA and Lokomotiv-Kuban and 1 time they lost 1 point to Tsmoki-Minsk. There are two upcoming games against Top-5 representatives: after Kazan Nizhny will face Zenit. It is time for Novgorod to break the bad streak and not fall off the comfortable play-off spots.
UNICS paced up and now having the best period in the season. Including EuroCup there are 6 games won in a row, Kazan are showing good defense (68,8 points allowed) and successfully fighting for Top-3 outpacing Loko and NN.
Rivals usually approach the game in different conditions but in derby these things don’t matter, Nizhny Novgorod and UNICS will fight for the Top-3 spot.
Stat
Nizhny Novgorod and UNICS are in season Top-5 three-point shooting team. NN’s percentage is 39,0% (4th), Kazan – 39,1% (3rd). These teams are also among the best in steals, 7,7 (2nd) by Nizhny, 7,5 (3rd) by UNICS.
UNICS have 3rd best defense in the League (76,9 point), Nizhny are 6th in this indicator (81,1).
Rebuilding
Nizhny’s bad streak is probably connected with roster changes. One of the main discoveries of the season Anton Astapkovich hasn’t played since December 28. In addition, Luke Petrasek, Sergey Toropov and Ilia Platonov are trying to stick into the roster although they missed the start of the season.
Breakthrough
Artem Klimenko became a bench player this season, only 3 games in the League and 6 minutes on average. In the game against Gran Canaria 27 years old Russian scored 13 points and 5 rebounds in 13 minutes. Dimitrios Priftis called him the player of the game. Probably, the game against the Spaniards will become a breakthrough for center and he’ll have a chance against NN.
National team
Russian National team announced the list of players they are depending on in February qualifications for Eurobasket-2022. In the preliminary roster there are 4 Nizhny Novgorod players: Anton Astapkovich, Evgenii Baburin, Ivan Strebkov and Artem Komolov. UNICS are represented in the list with Pavel Antipov.
Familiar faces
There are 3 UNICS players that have played for Nizhny. Dmitrii Uzinskii moved to UNICS after 3 seasons (2016-2019) in the black and white jersey in 2019, and Pavel Antipov (2019-2020) and Georgy Zhbanov moved to Kazan in 2020 off season and will meet their ex-team for the first time.
Commenting on Zhbanov left, Zoran Lukic said :”Unfortunately, I lost communication with him. We all tried to help Zhora get back on track, coaching staff, players, front office, even ex-front office. He chose the other way. It was useless to hold him. There was energy and it’s gone. This is the only reason.”
The game is about to be crucial for both sides.
Duel
Kasey Shepherd vs Jamar Smith.
In both teams’ offenses much depend on individual skills of Shepherd and Smith who combine scoring and passing. Recalling Jamar Smith’s clutch superpowers, as this derby may stay uncertain till the very ending. In 2021 the American hit a game-winner against Zielona Gora, and in the next game against Khimki he lobbed an alley-oop to John Brown III that became a game-winner.
Before the beginning of the season Kasey said that he wants to lead Nizhny to the championship and learn Russian. He proved that he doesn’t fear contenders. In September he set League’s recrod in points in a single quarter, 26 against Khimki. In recent games against CSKA and Loko he was averaging 17,0 points and 5,0 assists. Will see if Shepherd keeps it against UNICS.
