MBA goes to Minsk for the first time, the Volga Derby in Kazan, Zenit visiting Saratov. Preview December 18

 

Time: 15:00 (Moscow time)
Location: Belarus, Minsk, Falcon Club Arena
Broadcast: TV Start, League website

 

MINSK: After the unexpected Astana win over Avtodor, the Belarusian team returned to the last place in the standings. To fix this, MINSK also needs to win and the sooner the better. Not the easiest opponent will come to Minsk – MBA has firmly at the 4th place. Nevertheless, the Minsk team has repeatedly shown that the team is able to show character in the most difficult periods of the season. Rostislav Vergun team really lacks Zach Smith – the center is close to returning from injury, but his participation against MBA is questionable. Remembering the previous game with the League newcomer, it will be extremely important for MINSK to find the rhythm of the game as quickly as possible in order not to let go of the Moscow team from the very first minutes. And to control the ball – after all, in the October game in Moscow, the Belarusian team committed 24 turnovers, which is why the team scored only 62 points.

MBA: The Moscow team has indeed set in the Top 4 in the standings. Moreover, MBA continues the pursuit of Zenit and is waiting when the reigning champion will make a misfire. The loss of Aleksandr Khomenko forced the coaching staff to make adjustments to the team’s game  and in the last 4 games, MBA won 3, losing only to Avtodor on the road. The League newcomer has good memories with MINSK: in October, MBA got its first home win against the Belarusian team. Now Vasily Karasev team will play in Minsk for the first time and will do everything to return in a good mood.

UNICS (Kazan) – Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod)

 

UNICS: Last Sunday, the Kazan team beat Zenit in a very tense game – 95:94, which helped the team to make it to the 2nd place in the stndings. Since then, Velimir Perasovic team had almost a week to prepare for the Volga Derby: UNICS is stronger than Pari NN in all stats (except steals). Complicating the situation is the fact that several players feel unwell due to illness. UNICS won the previous game in October against Nizhny Novgorod focused on defense, allowing NN to score only 57 points. And now, defense will also be a determining factor.

Pari Nizhny Novgorod: With Loko 2 losses in a row, Nizhny Novgorod returned to the 5th place in the standings. Also the Volga team has a good shape: the team has won 4 out of 5 games and have not lost in December yet. The previous game with UNICS was not really good for Zoran Lukic team: Nizhny Novgorod scored only 22 points in the first half and trailed by 17 points. In addition, Pari NN set an anti-record for turnovers (30) in this game. But now Nizhny Novgorod control the ball better in December (12.3 turnovers). And the game against UNICS will be extremely difficult, due to managing the offense and defense – Macon-Reynolds duo scores more than 35 points per game. Although Nizhny let opponents score 75.1 points per game. Considering that some UNICS players comes to this Volga Derby with a cold, Pari NN needs to show aggressive defense, provoke opponents to make mistakes and use them.