Minsk, St. Petersburg and Moscow will host regular season games on Thursday.
MINSK (Minsk) – Astana (Astana)
Time: 18:30 (Moscow time)
Place: Belarus, Minsk, Falcon Club
Broadcast: League website
MINSK: In the last rounds MINSK claimed to get the first win of the season. However, each time the same scenario was repeated – MINSK played well in the first half, but lacked strength in the endings. The game between MINSK and Astana in the first round followed exactly the same scenario. 2 minutes before the end of the game the Minsk team led, but Carvel Anderson knocked out the team. But now MINSK has a good chance to take revenge at home. Especially announcing the signing of Artem Zabelin.
Astana: Astana winning streak was ended. First Runa made a fantastic 20-point comeback and pulled out a win in overtime, and then CSKA. The game with MINSK should show whether these are temporary difficulties or a serious decrease for Oleg Kiselev team. Although the Belarusian team is at the bottom of the standings, the game will not be easy – Astana has won only once on the road this season. Interestingly, the game in Minsk will be the 24th in the rivalry history.
Zenit (St. Petersburg) – Samara (Samara)
Time: 19:30 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, St. Petersburg, KSC Arena
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
Zenit: In the absence of almost half of the key players, Zenit pull out games on class and attitude. Zenit 6-game winning streak continued against Uralmash. Kyle Kuric was the best scoring player of the game, even though he made only 4 of 12 shots. However, if Zenit players don’t get their minds set on Samara, they’ll have a tough time – while Uralmash ranks last in the League in three-point percentage and can forgive poor perimeter defense, Samara continues to lead the League.
Samara: A 3-game road series in which Samara has not won yet ends with a game in St. Petersburg. After that, the Volga team will be able to rest a bit and has 3 games at home. The last game (in Krasnoyarsk) was clearly a fail: the team let opponents score 100 points and Drazen Anzulovic were able to malke only 7 of 20 three-pointers. Injuries and illnesses play a huge role in the team’s recent situation. For example, even before the game with Enisey, the team’s top scorer Justin Roberson was injured, but as Anzulovic said, he volunteered to play because of a lack of backcourt players. However, this round Samara is traveling to a team that has been injuried even worse, so in that sense the guests may even have a slight advantage.
Runa (Moscow) – Uralmash (Yekaterinburg)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, DS Dynamo
Broadcast: Match! Igra, TV Start, League website
Runa: Last round Runa played their probably worst game of the season, losing to Avtodor. In addition, the team scored 66 points, which was the least scoring game in the League. The Muscovites team left a lot of energy on their incredible comeback against Astana and had only 3 days to recover. At the same time, Erturul Erdogan team won’t have to rest anytime soon due to busy schedule: from December 11-20, the team has 3 road games.
Uralmash: In the first United League newcomers game, Runa beat Uralmash with Cameron Young performance. Back then, at the very beginning of the season, the Moscow team looked much brighter and was among the leaders, but the Yekaterinburg team got off to a rough start. However, Uralmash has overtaken Runa in the stanidngs. At the same time, Uralmash is not into long winning streaks, alternating wins with losses, but in general the Yekaterinburg team look more stable than Runa, which depends on the mood. In the battle with Zenit, Uralmash was 1 point away from win, so a repeat of the October scenario is not guaranteed for Runa.
