6 regular season games will take place on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
December 6, Friday
Kalev (Estonia) vs Enisey (Russia)
Time: 19:00 (20:00 МSК)
Place: Estonia, Tallinn, Kalevi Spordihall
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: Kalev’s win — 2,45, Enisey’s win — 1,55
Kalev: Although Estonia hold a top-6 spot, after defeat from Tsmoki they have negative record (4-5). In last five games Kalev got only one victory – the opposite situation for Enisey. Athough Tallinn have a home game Krasnoyarsk are favoured to win team. It’s interesting that Kalev commit the fewest number of turnovers per game (10,4) while Enisey are the worst team in this indicator (14,6).
Enisey: Season-opening Krasnoyarsk’s win over CSKA doesn’t look like a sensation no more – beating another contender (Lokomotiv-Kuban) they took the second place in standings and probably want to add another on the road win. For now Drazen Anzlulovic’s team lost only one of 3 away games – vs Zenit. In doing so, Siberians’ coach claims that the main goal for the team is to hold a play-off spot by the end of the season but in case of win over Kalev the goal could become more ambitious.
December 7, Saturday
Astana (Kazakhstan) vs Nizhny Novgorod (Russia)
Time: 15:00 (12:00 МSК)
Place: Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, Saryarka Velodrome
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: Astana’s win — 1,35, Nizhny Novgorod’s win — 3,20
Astana: Since the beginning of the season Astana were holding a top-3 spot, but away losses against Kalev and Avtodor threw them back on the sixth place. For now, Astana proves the status of “hometown” team: they have lost all 4 on the road games but on the homecourt they are still undefeated (3 wins). It’s interesting that at home Astana plays completely different basketball than in away games: on the road Emil Raikovikj’s team try to show “defense-first” mentality, and they do the opposite in home games scoring and allowing a lot (95,0 points allowed, 96,7 points scored on average at home – the best in the League).
Nizhny Novgorod: Zoran Lukic’s team finally broke a long losing streak beating VEF in Champions League: on the last second attempt with even score Brandon Brown hit a game-winner. However, in United League Nizhny have 4 losses in a row, the last two (vs Khimki and CSKA) with big differential. Because of this Novgorod are now thrown of the play-off zone holding only tenth spot. In game vs Astana they will try to break this streak. Statistics are on the Nizhny’s side (11 wins of 14 games) but Astana are still the favourites: Nizhny’s frontcourt will face a problem of holding dominating Dusan Ristic, whose rebounds help Astana hold 2nd place in this indicator (38,0 per game). Nizhny are the worst rebounding team in the League – 30,6.
Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia) vs Avtodor (Russia)
Time: 17:00 (17:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: Lokomotiv-Kuban’s win — 1,10, Avtodor’s win — 7,00
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Losing to Enisey Krasnodar still hold top-4 spot but spirited UNICS are chasing them. This defeat was the first for Kuban under Bogdan Karaicic coaching. However, at home they are still undefeated. The most important for Lokomotiv now is to show that defensive problems were only in game against Enisey: that night Loko allowed the most points this season (98) – the only game this season when they allowed more than 90 points.
Avtodor: After Evgeny Pashutin dismissal Saratov were lacking head coach for a short period of time – Bosnian specialist Predrag Krunic is now holding this position. Game against Loko will be the first for Avtodor’s head coach. Although both teams are high-scoring (Loko in top-4, Avtodor – 7th) three-point rains are not expected – Kuban and Saratov hold last spots in the League in 3-point field goal percentage (32,3 and 30,7). Thus, Avtodor’s new head coach have to stabilize their three-point specialists’ game because otherwise it would be hard to stand against so athletic and powered Loko’s defense.
UNICS (Russia) vs Zielona Gora (Poland)
Time: 18:00 (18:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: UNICS’ win — 1,07, Zielona Gora’s win — 8,50
UNICS: In the last round Kazan showed their best basketball this season and became the first team to beat CSKA 3 times in a row. Furthermore, in that game UNICS set its scoring-high this season – 94 points. Errick McCollum was unstoppable again, who scored 30 against League’s best defense. Zielona Gora doesn’t have such defense like CSKA have – they allow 89,0 points per game. Thus, Kazan will try to set a new scoring-high.
Zielona Gora: In last 5 games Zan Tabak’s team got 3 Ws losing only to big contenders CSKA and Lokomotiv. Now they have to pass another big team challenge. Last year Zielona Gora lost both games against Kazan, so they will do their best to get first win in this matchup repeating another underdog’s success, that beat UNICS this season – Kalev.
December 8, Sunday
PARMA (Russia) vs CSKA (Russia)
Time: 17:30 (15:30 МSК)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: PARMA’s win — 7,30, CSKA’s win — 1,09
PARMA: After a series of defeats they found their rhythm, and first confidently defeated Avtodor, and then snatched the victory in clutch against Zenit. The next rival for them is traditionally principle – CSKA, whose PARMA has not yet won in the 7-match history of the confrontation. However, with rare exceptions, the games between these teams are quite stubborn. Do not forget that on Sunday’s game there are two of the three most high-scoring teams of the season – CSKA takes second place with 91.2 points per game, and PARMA – third with 89.6. Opponents are united by the fact that in each separate game a new hero can “shoot”: for example, although Adas Juskevicius is the number one offensive option of the team of Kazys Maxvytis now, in the duel with Zenit, the best offensive players are Artem Zabelin and Maxim Grigoryev. It is interesting that it was in the game against the former team (Zenit) that Evgeny Valiev made his debut for PARMA, and scored 5 points and made 2 rebounds in 10 minutes.
CSKA: After an insane victory over Barcelona in the Euroleague, CSKA did not find the strength to withstand the pressure of UNICS and suffered a third defeat in 9 games. They immediately worked out the mistakes – in the Euroleague game against Zalgiris, where Mike James scored a game-winner (85:82) in the last seconds of overtime. At the same time, it cannot be said that the problems of CSKA have already been resolved – for example, in the game against Zalgiris, the far from top Euroleague team, they managed to score only 9 points in the first quarter.
December 9, Monday
Zenit (Russia) vs Khimki (Russia)
Time: 19:30 (19:30 МSК)
Place: Russia, Saint Petersburg, Sibur Arena
Broadcast: Match TV
Odds by Fonbet: Zenit’s win — 2,10, Khimki’s win — 1,65
Zenit: Two teams that were considered as direct rivals before the season in the fight for the title, came to a meeting in different statuses. If Khimki is, without a doubt, leader of the championship, then Zenit cannot maintain a positive or at least equal balance of victories and defeats. After two winning games in a row, they lost to PARMA, and in just the last 6 games (including the Euroleague) they suffered 5 defeats. An old acquaintance of Russian basketball fans is called upon to strengthen the leadership of the team – Marko Popovich, who retired, was appointed assistant general director of working with the main team. It is curious that Popovich can make his new debut right before the match with his former team – Khimki. True, this can happen already in the Euroleague Friday game with Villeurbanne.
Khimki: They are approaching the game with Zenit, having 9 wins in 9 games. Assuming the problems of Zenit, Khimki will probably try to bring this score to a round number of 10 wins in a row. Moreover, the team of Joan Plaza is extremely insecure at home: out of 4 home games Zenit managed to win only one. However, much will depend on the physical and emotional state of Khimki: on Friday they will have to play against Barcelona, which is probably eager to take revenge from the Russian club after a shocking loss from CSKA. The game with the Barcelona is clearly going to be difficult, but the roster resources of the Khimki are still quite enough for a successful fight on two sides.
