Six games of the regular season are coming this weekend.
February 1, Saturday
Zielona Gora – Nizhny Novgorod
Time: 18:00 (20:00 MSK)
Venue: CRS Hala Zielona Góra, Zielona Gora, Poland
Broadcast: League site
Fonbet line: Zielona Gora win — 1,80, Nizhny Novgorod win — 2,00
Zielona Gora, having lost to Astana, were outrun by the competitors and even dropped down from top 8. However, Zielona Gora still are one of the 6 tied teams with 6 victories which means the situation can change already in this round. Another motivation to win this game is to not let Nizhny get the 6th victory levelling the two. This season, Zielona Gora have already been victorious against Nizhny: in November they pulled of a clutch win thanks to the incredible performance of Ludvig Hakanson. He scorded 15 points alone in the final quarter (more than the opposing team).
Nizhny Novogorod brought good news to their fans this week. Having outplayed Gaziantep (where they met their ex-star Stevan Elovac), they qualified to the Champions League playoffs. But things are harder in the United League. 4 lost of the last 5 which left them behing not only the playoff zone, but even top 10. Nizhny have to do whatever it takes to beat Zielona Gora, as later they face Khimki, Loko, UNICS and Zenit.
February 2, Sunday
TIme: 18:00 (14:00 MSK)
Venue: Arena.Sever, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Broadcast: League site
Fonbet line: Enisey win — 1,60, PARMA win — 2,35
Enisey are going through a tough schedule between two competitions. As a result, the Siberians lost 4 in a row landing to the bottom of top 8. And recently they were chasing the contenders. Another loss happened in FIBA Europe Cup where Krasnoyarsk met Karsiyaka. After a big defeat, Enisey’s record in the second group stage is only 1-4. But this is the time for Drazen Anzulovic’s side to gain momentum and turn things around. In February-March, they’ll play 4 homes games, and this season Enisey lost only two of 6 home games.
PARMA are on a rise. Three consecutive wins, getting to the group of “6 wins 6 teams” ranked 5-10th in the standings. Already in this round, someone will finally win the 7th one. This season PARMA and Enisey already played a thriller when Perm came back from -15, but couldn’t hold Davion Berry in the end. Both teams are way below top 3 in the standings as opposed to their offense stats. Both are in top 4: Enisey ranked 3rd with 87.5 points per game, PARMA ranked 4th with 87.3. This means the fans can hope for at least as high scoring game as the first one (178 points in total).
Time: 16:00 (16:00 MSK)
Venue: Yubileyny Sports Hall, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Broadcast: League site
Fonbet line: Zenit win — 1,12, Kalev win — 6,30
Zenit face bad luck again. Mateusz Ponitka is out for 6 weeks, Andrey Zubkov got injurred before Euroleague game against Barcelona. Players in rotation was one of the things Zenit lacked to fight. This will be a factor against Kalev as well. On the other hand, Zenit will try to revenge that sensational at the time loss from the Estonians in the first round (when Tallinn outplayed Zenit and UNICS).
Kalev still face problems in offense. They remain League’s only team to score less than 80 per game. Tsmoki who are second to last have 3-point advantage. At the same time, Tallinn’s defense work pretty well hence they usually win if the average scoring level is surpassed as it happened against Enisey and Avtodor (scoreed 94 and 88 points). Kalev are behind in another stat: offensive teamplays. They are the second to last in assists (16.6 assists per game) while Zenit are in top 2 (22.2).
Time: 17:00 (16:00 MSK)
Venue: Crystal SP, Saratov, Russia
Broadcast: Match! Strana
Fonbet line: Avtodor win — 3,55, Lokomotiv-Kuban win — 1,30
Avtodor are falling again after a short rise. They’re on a 5-game losing streak which makes it harder and harder to compete for the playoffs (currently ranked 12th). Another challenge is the transfer of Elgin Cook who signed with UNICS. The American was Avtodor’s best sniper (15.4 PPG) along with Markel Starks. He was the hero of their first game against Loko when Predrag Krunic made his debut with a win. Ryan Boatright, NCAA 2014 champion with Connecticut univeristy, is signed to compensate the loss.
Lokomotiv-Kuban: that December game against Avtodor was crucial. After a loss, the Red-greens reshaped coaching staff: Evgeny Pashutin was named a head coach (he started the season with Avtodor). Led by Pashutin, Loko made a 6-games winning streak. Last week, they won big against Enisey while the big men Johnny O’Bryant and Alan Williams dominated. It is critical for Loko to see the same level against Avtodor’s froncourt: Isaiah Hicks – Mouhammadou Jaiteh duo score 27.1 points and 17.2 rebounds per game.
Tsmoki-Minsk – Astana Kazakhstan
Time: 17:45 (17:45 MSK)
Venue: Falcon club, Minsk Belarus
Broadcast: League site
Fonbet line: Tsmoki-Minsk win — 2,15, Astana win — 1,70
Tsmoki-Minsk had the toughest calendar recently: CSKA, Khimki, Lokomotiv and Zenit. Rostislav Vergun’s side managed to win the only game against more or less comparable team. Thanks to this victory they still hope for the playoffs as Minsk have only one big competitior left in the regular season (UNICS). The first game of Dragons and Astana was a real thriller, Kazakh won by 2 thanks to Malcolm Hill’s performance in the clutch.
Astana are traditionally a challenging competitor for Tsmoki. The two had been levelled until November’s Astana win (6-6). Nur-Sultan team ended their bad luck period with a record of 3-1 in the last 4 games. However, one should remember that Astana won only one of the 7 away games. This is the second to last result in the League (equal to Avtodor). At the same, it’s hard to say that Tsmoki are a ‘home team’: the record of 1-6 says it. Astana look like front-runners in this one. Most of their road game troubles are related to offense as Astana score almost 14(!) points less in away games. At the same time, Minsk defense is not the best in the League.
Time: 18:30 (18:30 MSK)
Venue: Basket hall, Kazan, Russia
Broadcast: Match TV
Fonbet line: UNICS win — 2,15, Khimki win — 1,70
UNICS had quite a week. Dimitris Priftis’ side came back and downed Zenit to claim their spot in top 4. In Eurocup’s Top 16, they were beaten by Galatasaray. UNICS’ unstable offense was a crucial factor that night: Kazan scored only 76 points, and they only player to get 20+ was Errick McCollum. The management knew they have to strengthen the attack, so UNICS signed Avtodor’s Elgin Cook. Worth mentioning that on of Cook’s best performances this season was against UNICS: 20 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.
Khimki had their hard time in Euroleague as well. In Russian derby they were beaten by CSKA. Even though Alexey Shved scored 27 points he was not backed enough by his teammates (42 points by the rest of the team). Lack of balance is the root of offense troubles. After Jeremy Evans’ injury Kurtinatis has a small list of big man and Khimki had to face Hines and Voigtmann with a small five. As a result, Hines scored 13 and Voigtmann hit a double-double – 15+14. This can be a factor in a game against UNICS with their big Morgan-Tyus duo.
