On Saturday, Sunday and Monday there will be 4 regular season games.
January 11, Saturday
Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia) vs Nizhny Novgorod (Russia)
Time: 17:00 (17:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: Lokomotiv-Kuban — 1,15, Nizhny Novgorod — 5,50
Lokomotiv-Kuban: 3-game winning streak let Loko settle in Top-3. But Kuban shouldn’t rest: 4th spot UNICS has only one win to tie them, and 2nd place is separated Loko by 2 successful games, thus they have no room for error. Although Krasnodar is significantly higher than Nizhny in standings both teams have almost the same offense: Loko score 85,6 PPG, their rivals – 85,3 (5th and 6th spot in League). Loko dominate in rebounds: their teams’ leaders are almost equal but there is no support for Darral Willis among Nizhny’s roster. Loko holds pure 1st spot in rebounds – 39,1 per game.
Nizhny Novgorod: Novgorod managed to break a bad run that started in the end of November. If all tournaments are counted than in December Nizhny took 5 wins of 7 games, and they were close to 6 of 7 but couldn’t beat Avtodor in clutch. Only Khimki who had no defeats back then beat Nizhny with no chances. One of the key factors for Nizhny is that injuries stopped torture the team, and Zoran Lukic now can build the team chemistry with stable combinations of players, and it already works.
January 12, Sunday
Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus) vs Avtodor (Russia)
Time: 14:45 (14:45 МSК)
Place: Belarus, Minsk, Falcon Club
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: Tsmoki-Minsk — 1,75, Avtodor — 2,08
Tsmoki-Minsk: December was a big success for the Dragons in comparison with other months. Minsk took its 2 first wins, was close to take another one in game vs Zielona Gora and showed its teeth vs CSKA losing 91:94 (by the way, CSKA allowed 90+ points only 2 times this season). However, the new year started not really good for Belarus – they entirely lost to Zenit with 20-point differential. But Avtodor hesitate in last games as well, so although Tsmoki hold the last spot they can count on chasing up PARMA, and if they win there will be only 1 win separating them.
Avtodor: 2020 starter with a loss for Predrag Krunic’s squad, and may be more fatal loss than Tsmoki had: Saratov allowed UNICS to come back from -20 and lost, allowing game-winning three from Jamar Smith on the last minute. Avtodor go to Minsk obviously eager to recover and probably will play aggressively. Another complicating factor is that Saratov took only one away victory in 5 games over Lokomotiv. From the other side, Tsmoki can’t be considered as favourites just because the play at home – they haven’t yet won at home this season.
PARMA (Russia) vs Astana (Kazakhstan)
Time: 17:00 (15:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: PARMA — 1,75, Astana — 2,08
PARMA: They enter the battle after a long pause – they played their last game in the League on December 21st. Their last 3 games turned out to be quite unsuccessful, and mostly because of their offense. If before these games PARMA was one of the three best offensive teams of the League, than they have never managed to score more than 75 points. One of the main reasons for this is a noticeable decrease in scoring of Adas Juskevicius. After incredible games with UNICS and Khimki, when he scored 34 and 37 points in a row, he failed to cross the 10-point mark in any of the next 5 games and lost the lead in scoring to Maxim Grigoryev.
Astana: As for Astana, they perked up and made a two-game winning streak and brought back a place in the playoffs. Both games (with Zielona Gora and Enisey) were extremely tense, with persistent endings, and both times Astana managed to protect a successful result. It is interesting that in both games, success was achieved via the actions of the duet, which included Dusan Ristic: their duet with James Florence in the game with the Poles brought Astana 44 points and 19 rebounds (17 of which were accounted for by the Ristic). And against Enisey the Ristic-Malcolm Hill duet acted even more productively – 55 points and 20 rebounds (and again Ristic made 17). Due to this striking double, the Serbian center leads the list of the best rebounders of the League – 11.64 rebounds per game. The opposing Perm player Mareks Mejeris has much more modest stats – 6.4 rebounds per game.
January 13, Monday
Enisey (Russia) vs Zielona Gora (Poland)
Time: 19:30 (15:30 МSК)
Place: Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Arena Sever
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: Enisey — 1,35, Zielona Gora — 3,20
Enisey: With a loss to Astana Enisey gave the fourth place in the table to UNICS, but even in this round they can regain their place in the Top 4 if they defeat Zielona Gora. They definitely have grounds for the belief in positive result. They have not lost at home for two months already – only at the very beginning of the season they could not outplay Khimki on their floor. True, Zielona Gora cannot be called a truly home team – on the road they have a 50% balance of victories and defeats. However, on their court, the squad of Drazen Anzulovic will probably try to seize the initiative as quickly as possible. According to the scoring in home games (88.8 points), Enisey is one of the four best teams in the League, and is losing only to the two leaders of the table – Khimki and CSKA, as well as to Astana which is playing powerfully and aggressively at home.
Zielona Gora: They were clearly unlucky at the end of December: both in the game against Loko and in the game against Astana, they had a right to expect a victory, but missed it on the last seconds. Therefore, in the game with Kalev, the team of Zan Tabak tried to ensure a comfortable distance long before the ending. Of course, the Enisey on its court should state much more complex tasks for the Poles, and the main one is how to keep the excellent Davion Barry, who is one of the four best League scorers with 19.3 points. Much will depend on whether they will find a recipe for individual defense against Barry who feels great in isolations – which allows Enisey to be one of the leaders in scoring, being only on 10th place in assists.
