Minsk will host the regular season game on Saturday.
MINSK (Belarus) – Samara (Russia)
Time: 17:00 (17:00 Moscow time)
Location: Belarus, Minsk, Falcon Club
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
MINSK: The Belarusian team has lost its chances of reaching the playoffs – the gap from the Group B leaders is already too big. Therefore, now MINSK faces another task – not to finish the season in the last place. It will not be easy to surpass Astana, but it is still possible – but the team need to start winning now. However, Rostislav Vergun team is playing well against Samara this season: MINSK lost only by 7 points on the road, 12 at home. Now MINSK has strengthened the squad with DaQuan Bracey, forward Ognjen Pantovic has added power in the paint. If the whole team can show their best offensive game and stop Knight – Ennis duo – then the Minsk team will be able to please the fans with the first home win of the season.
Samara: 2 consecutive losses have put the League newcomer playoffs participation in doubt. Avtodor has already got Samara in the standings, and now the Volga team cannot lose in Minsk. And yet Sergey Bazarevich team ismuch better than its opponent in points per game, scoring 16 points more, as well as in most of the main stats. It is important for the team to take the control of the game from the first minutes and not allow opponents to play in positional basketball. Of course, the team need to minimize turnovers and make sure that MINSK does not use fast breaks to score easy points.
