On Saturday and Monday 4 regular season games will take place.
December 26, Saturday
Astana (Kazakhstan) vs Zenit (Russia)
Time: 15:00 (12:00 MSK)
Place: Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, Saryarka Velodrome
Broadcast: Match! Strana
Odds by Fonbet: Astana — 6,60, Zenit — 1,11
Astana: Victory over PARMA was quite tough and very important: it let them to return into playoff race. As Emil Rajkovikj said, this was only the second game with the full roster, so Astana has all the chances to make in to the top 8. Jeremiah Hill got into tremendous shape, with 30 points against Zielona Gora and got 21 points in a game against PARMA.
Zenit: First loss in the season against Lokomotiv didn’t change a lot in the table. Zenit still leads, but two failures in the row made Zenits’ coaches do their homework. They showed it in a game against Crvena Zvezda, where they crushed their rival by 29 points. K. C. Rivers was the hero of this game with his 23 points, and he also made it over the 1500 points in Euroleague.
UNICS (Russia) vs CSKA (Russia)
Time: 13:00 (13:00 MSK)
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match TV
Odds by Fonbet: UNICS — 4,15, CSKA — 1,23
UNICS: They made two victories in a row and almost made it to the top 3. They beat Tsmoki by the efforts of Isaiah Canaan with his 33 points. But now they’ve got a serious opponent. The last time CSKA defeated UNICS in 2018; since then Kazan team won their Moscow rivals three times in a row.
CSKA: Despite these facts, CSKA still remain a front runner in this game. They gained 11 wins in Euroleague, and they have 3 game streak in this tournament. Unfortunately, William Clyburn got an injury in a game against Villeurbanne, but not a serious one. Still he is going to miss several games, including the game with UNICS. Anyway, CSKA will try to take the lead straight away.
Khimki (Russia) – PARMA (Russia)
Time: 15:00 (15:00 MSK)
Place: Russia, Khimki, BCMO
Broadcast: Match! Strana
Odds by Fonbet: Khimki — 1,14, Parma — 5,75
Khimki: They will have to enter the court after a month break – they played their last game on November 22th. For Khimki it was a vital break, during the season they were losing their leaders due to the pandemic and injuries. Even though, Khimki can’t be named a favourite in this game, as they have lost 13 games out of 15 in Euroleague and 5 out of 8 in the United League.
PARMA: They pleased their fans with two victories in a row, including the win over one of the contender Lokomoriv. But they couldn’t stay at the same pace – they lost two games in a row and now they are trying to stay in the top 8. What is interesting, Khimki have become a direct rival to PARMA, despite the class difference. PARMA haven’t won a game against Khimki even once: 0 wins in 7 games but this time PARMA is desperate to break this unlucky streak.
December 28, Monday
Nizhniy Novgorod (Russia) – Kalev (Estonia)
Time: 19:00 (19:00 MSK)
Place: Russia, Nizhniy Novgorod, FOC Mezhersky
Broadcast: Basket world
Odds by fonbet: Nizhny Novgorod — 1,21, Kalev — 4,40
Nizhny Novgorod: With 4 wins out of 5, they are taking the second place in the League. The game with Kalev is a great opportunity to overlap CSKA even more. They are performing quite well in Euroleague as well, with a victory over Polish Start. Anton Astapkovich is getting into the shape from 13 point in the game against Astana to 18 point with Enisey and the top scorer title.
Kalev: They are now in the lowest part of the table. After a victory over Tsmoki they stumbled on UNICS and couldn’t make the streak. Of course this game lacked Janari Joesaar, who played well in the game against Tsmoki – 19 points and 8 rebounds. In perspective, his impact on the team will be huge, as well as the impact of Maurice Kemp (10 points and 5 rebounds in a game against UNICS).
