Four United League games will take place on Monday.
Uralmash (Ekaterinburg, Russia) vs Avtodor (Saratov, Russia)
Time: 19:00 ( 17:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Ekaterinburg, Russia, GAUSO “Dvorets Igrovykh Vidov Sporta”
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
Uralmash: After a bright win over Zenit, the Yekaterinburg team was surely looking to extend their streak by beating their main rival from last year’s Super League Runa. However, Uralmash failed to repeat its success – the defence worked much worse. The main concern of Uralmash coaching staff right now is to contain the offensive impulse of Josh Perkins. There were already a lot of questions about his shooting (2 out of 13 from the game) in the game against Zenit, but then Perkins at least made up for it at a key moment and scored the eventual game-winning shot. Against Runa, Perkins’ performance was even more questionable – 2out of 16 from the game. However, neither Javonte Douglas nor Garrett Nevels could boast a consistent shot in this game.
Avtodor: The Saratov team also lost to Runa, and even by almost the same score as Uralmash, and then lost to MBA. In both games, curiously enough, Avtodor let opponents score 87 points. It’s certainly premature to talk about serious problems and look for trends after two games. But it’s noteworthy that both Runa and MBA tried to play with the widest possible rotation and keeping the pace high. Avtodor wasn’t ready for that, although the Saratov team has been known for its aggressive style with any coach. However, teh team’s current opponent isn’t known for its depth of rotation, so the game result will depend on the starting five.
PARMA (Perm, Russia) vs Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia)
Time: 19:30 (17:30 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot.
Broadcast: Match! Igra, TV Start, League website
PARMA: The Perm team opening game of the season may not have deserved the super status, but the intrigue was well worthy. After successfully breaking down the Krsasnodar team classic fast basketball, PARMA prevented Loko from getting a 10-point lead, dragged the game into overtime, and then C.J. Bryce, who was making his League debut brilliantly, made his shot in the final seconds. Bryce is clearly making a bid to become one of the main discoveries of the season, but Evgeny Pashutin relies on more than just star foreigners. Young Vladislav Perevalov and Dmitriy Cheburkin, who came from 3×3 basketball. And Ruslan Abdulbasirov, who was experienced but almost never played in the elite, became the main key factor of the game, getting 9 rebounds – more than Loko’s entire start combined!
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: For Zoran Lukic team, the opening game of the season became “training with increased responsibility” – MINSK gave up pretty quickly. So the real test of strength will be the game against PARMA. In general, Nizhny can be called our analogue of the San Antonio Spurs – if not in terms of results, then in terms of club culture building. The familiar and stable core of the roster guarantees Nizhny definitely should not fall below its level, and may even surprise. The symbol of the team is Andrey Vorontsevich. Much is expected from Bryon Allen, who will play against his recent teammates on Monday – he played 12 games for PARMA last season, becoming one of the best scoring players of the season.
Runa (Moscow, Russia) vs Samara (Samara, Russia)
Time: 19:30 (19:30 MSC)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Sport Palace “Dynamo”
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Runa: After two rounds played, the League newcomer suddenly topped the standings. And while this should be treated with a certain degree of conventionality, the fact is that Runa is playing relaxed and very modern basketball: lots of ball movement, lots of player movement, little positioning, fast breaks and a desire to carry the ball as little as possible. Aleksander Sekulic is building a similar progressive model of play in Krasnodar, and it has already taken Loko to the Finals. Erturul Erdogan (with his vast coaching experience and a very decent squad at his disposal) probably doesn’t plan to limit himself to just the title of “most daring newcomers of the season”; if Runa take a third consecutive win, it will be a very serious bid.
Samara: The Volga team easily beat a rebuilding Enisey, but in the next round they were unlucky to face Zenit, who were eager to rehabilitate for their loss to Uralmash. However, Drazen Anzulovic team, who took almost half of his team with him from Krasnoyarsk, still left a good impression: for three quarters Samara players fought Zenit, and only in the end the class advantage of the St Petersburg team made Samara felt. As successful as Runa has been, the Vikings still don’t have players such as Heurtel and Frazier, so Samara is well positioned to break their winning mini-streak.
Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar, Russia) vs. MBA (Moscow, Russia)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match TV, Start Triumph, League website
Lokomotiv Kuban: It’s been a rough start to the season for the Krasnodar team. It’s not even about two losses – that’s not very dangerous for the regular season – it’s the constant roster problems that have left Aleksander Sekulic unable to get Loko up to full capacity. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, who has become a key player for the team on both ends over the year, continues to heal. The same goes for Zakhar Vedischev, while Jaylen Barford has only just resolved his paperwork issues and was still clearly out of sorts in the game against PARMA. But most importantly, Sekulic is still struggling to cope with Chris Horton loss: Andrey Martiuk is suffering from second season syndrome (judging by the first few games), and Jordan Morgan has yet to fully integrate into Loko game model. In the game against PARMA, this problems will cause troubles in the paint: Stanislav Ilnitskiy and League newcomer Ruslan Abdulbasirov simply dominated in the paint, combining 13 rebounds. Vasily Karasev will probably try to use this Loko weakness.
MBA: MBA first season in the League was a breakthrough in every sense, and Vasily Karasev team is definitely not going to rest. Of course, the Krasnodar team will be very motivated: Loko clearly has no plans to get a third straight loss in front of their own fans. On the other hand, the Moscow team is in noticeably better shape right now. They beat Avtodor with a huge lead – they didn’t even need Daniil Kasatkin, who played the role of Allen Iverson against CSKA, but against the Saratov team played only 16 minutes and scored 7 points. By the way, due to Loko frontcourt problems, Evgeniy Minchenko, who had a crazy game against Avtodor – 11 points, 4 rebounds and 6 blocks (the current season high, which may well become the final – Bamba Fall’s famous 7 blocks lasted for 11 years, until Malik Dime surpassed him last season with 8 blocks), could play a very big role.
