On Saturday, Sunday and Monday 5 regular season games take place.
February 27, Saturday
UNICS (Russia) vs Nizhny Novgorod (Russia)
Time: 15:00 (15:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match! Strana
Odds by Fonbet: UNICS — 1,23, Nizhny Novgorod — 4,15
UNICS: UNICS extended their 7-game winning streak with 8th victory over Zenit before the break. Kazan have good chances to make it double figures: the game against Nizhny will be at home, this season they lost at home only once, and in the next game they’ll meet Kalev, second worst League’s team. However, at least in the next game UNICS can’t count on their best scorer this season: Isaiah Canaan is out for 2 weeks because of injury. This season Canaan averages 16,9 points per game. However, in teams’ first meet of the season the main star was another Kazan foreigner John Brown who scored 24 points.
Nizhny Novgorod: Наставник УНИКСа Димитрис Прифтис заметил, что игра с «Нижним» после двухнедельной паузы будет «скользкой». Сами по себе нижегородцы вполне способны оказать одному из лидеров Лиги достойный отпор. Двумя победами подряд они прервали свою полосу неудач, а один из лидеров команды Артем Комолов подкрепил свое снайперское реноме, победив вUNICS head coach Dimitrios Priftis noted that the game against Nizhny after a 2-week break will be tight. Nizhny themselves can fight against one of the season leading teams. They broke a bad streak with 2 consecutive victories and one of the team leaders Artem Komolov proved his sharp shooting skills winning three-point shootout contest at All-Star Game. If Zoran Lukic team win in Volga derby it may become a perfect basis to stay in the top of standings. 4 of 5 next games Nizhny will play against non playoffs teams.
Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia) vs Enisey (Russia)
Time: 16:00 (16:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Basketball World
Odds by Fonbet: Lokomotiv-Kuban — 1,12, Enisey — 6,25
Lokomotiv-Kuban: In February Kuban released Jordan Crawford as he broke club’s rules. Although Crawford played unstable he was first offensive option on Loko roster averaging 18,4 points. However, Kuban have players to replace former NBA player. In particular, team’s newcomer Nigel Williams-Goss already hit a game-winner against Khimki, and another newcomer Drew Gordon almost collected a double-double.
Enisey: After three consecutive victories Enisey had to face another level opponent, aggressive and motivated CSKA. However, Enisey showed some spirit that game losing badly only in one quarter, that was crucial. Now Krasnoyarsk face another contender that defeated them this season. By the way, it was that game when Lokomotiv lost their leader Alan Williams.
Avtodor (Russia) vs Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus)
Time: 14:00 (13:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Saratov, Crystal SP
Broadcast: TV Start
Odds by Fonbet: Avtodor — 1,27, Tsmoki-Minsk — 3,50
Avtodor: Saratov that were in the play-off zone for the majority of the season took 2 consecutive defeats and fell off the play-off zone letting PARMA outpace them. In the game against the Dragons Gordie Herbert have to dedicate to get back in the play-off race. Saratov fans are optimistic because of their players success during the regular season break. Nate Mason was one of the brightest All-Star Game players, and 20-years old Anton Kvitkovskikh debuted for Russian National team in the game against Estonia and hit his first three for the team. By the way, Kvitkovskikh’s best game was against Tsmoki: Avtodor won with 17-point advantage and young player set his career-high with 16 points.
Tsmoki-Minsk: The Dragons with 2-12 record still are the worst team in the League and almost lost their chances to get into play-offs. 5 of 6 next games for Tsmoki will be away, the majority of them against top-8 teams. This season Tsmoki managed to beat only one play-off seeded team, Nizhny Novgorod. In addition, a week ago the team announced that one of the key players Robert Lowery left the team to play in Germany.
Khimki (Russia) vs Zielona Gora (Poland)
Time: 15:00 (15:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Khimki, BCMO
Broadcast: Match! Strana
Odds by Fonbet: Khimki — 1,53, Zielona Gora — 2,50
Khimki: Moscow team continue to suffer from roster issues. In the recent Euroleague game against Milan Shved, Booker, Jovic, Timma and Valiev couldn’t play. Evgeny Valiev, who has been the only center of the team in a few latest games, suffered a broken nose in the game against Estonia and likely will miss a few next games. Shved and Janis Timma can participate in the game against the Poles. For Khimki this game is extremely crucial: if they lose Andrey Maltsev squad hardly would catch up Zielona Gora, and their wins percentage will drop to PARMA’s that spotted 8th.
Zielona Gora: Before the start of the season it was hard to expect Zan Tabak’s team outpacing Khimki in standings by the end of February. However, the Poles spent 4 more games. For now Zielona Gora haven’t beat Khimki yet but considering Khimki’s problems it is time to change the situation. Nevertheless, Zielona Gora themselves have a problem that may influence the rest of the season badly: best team’s player and MVP candidate Iffe Lundberg signed with CSKA. Although Zielona Gora quickly signed Nicos Pappas and Skyler Bowlin Lundberg loss will influence team’s game and it will take some time for newcomers to adapt.
March 1, Monday
Astana (Kazakhstan) vs Kalev (Estonia)
Time: 19:30 (16:30 МSК)
Place: Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, Saryarka Velodrome
Broadcast: Basketball World
Odds by Fonbet: Astana — 1,53, Kalev — 2,50
Astana: After a loud victory over Lokomotiv Kazakhstan can’t win for 4 games in a row. Two of them were against lower standings team Enisey (2 of 4 Enisey victories were taken against Astana). These defeats complicated Kazakhstan chances to get to play-offs. In addition, during the February break team’s starting center Martins Meiers left the team, he was averaging 11,2 points and 5,8 rebounds. In the game against Kalev it may be a factor as Tallinn have such bigs as Maurice Kemp and Devin Thomas.
Kalev: Emotional raise after a bright victory over CSKA could become the key to save the season for Kalev. But right after it, Tallinn lost to PARMA in back to back games. Although team’s leader Marcus Keene played extraordinary these games (25 and 19 points) Kalev’s offense didn’t manage to support their best scorer, in both games Tallinn only managed to score 72 points. Technically, Kalev still have chances for a play-off spot but after games against PARMA they are miserable. By the decisive games the Estonians signed guard Arturs Zagars from Spanish championship.
