On Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday there will be 6 regular season games.
January 17, Friday
Zielona Gora (Poland) vs UNICS (Russia)
Time: 18:30 (20:30 МSК)
Place: Poland, Zielona Gora, CRS Hala Zielona Góra
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: Zielona Gora — 2,75, UNICS — 1,46
Zielona Gora: Although Zan Tabak’s team is concerned as underdog, last games vs UNICS were equal – both teams have 3 wins. With the help of this the Polish managed to go up to 7th place, and only one victory separates them from Kazan. They have already met this season, and UNICS won in tough game via clutch scoring by Errick McCollum. However, in last month Zielona Gora did some homework: in their last game UNICS center Raymar Morgan completely overplayed Polish frontcourt but in last few games Drew Gordon got in fantastic shape, and he won’t give any space in his paint for UNICS bigs. Moreover, Poland powered up – former NBA player George King was signed.
UNICS: Their last game in VTB league was long ago – January 4. In the meantime UNICS had a debut in Eurocup Top-16, where they beat Rytas and then lost to Monaco. In both games Errick McCollum was a star (20 and 21 points). Thus, UNICS is in good shape. Although Dimitrios Prifris’ team is fourth in standings they hardly can be called a favourite. UNICS struggle in games with underdogs: it is proved by tough +3 win over Avtodor and loss from Enisey, that doesn’t allow them to catch up Lokomotiv even in case of win.
January 18, Saturday
PARMA (Russia) vs Nizhny Novgorod (Russia)
Time: 17:30 (15:30 МSК)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: PARMA — 1,75, Nizhny Novgorod — 2,08
PARMA: In December Perm were quite unstable. After a big win over Zenit the Ural lost three consecutive games including loss to Tsmoki-Minsk, who are the last team in the league. Minsk let PARMA score only 68 points, which is team’s season-low. However, in the next game one of the best offensive teams in the league (86 points per game on average) could recover: 100 points in win over Astana. It is interesting that the top scorer was Adas Juskevicius (12 points) who took scoring leadership back. Lithuanian couldn’t score more than 10 points in 5 games in a row. Nikolai Zhmako performed well (19 points is his career-high).
Nizhny Novgorod: Nizhny in last few games gained a status of one of the most strong-willed teams of the league. Apart from the loss from Khimki in last 4 games Zoran Lukic’s squad was fighting till the end. Now Nizhny stand on 8th place with 5 wins but after this round they may tie Zenit, Enisey and Zielona Gora. They did the same in Champions league against Peristeri snatching the victory in fourth quarter with 6-point lead. By the way, last game vs PARMA was a season-opener, setting their season-high in scoring – 105 points. There is a high chance that team’s rookie Terell Parks will have a debut.
Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia) vs Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus)
Time: 16:00 (16:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Odds by Fonbet: Lokomotiv-Kuban— 1,10, Tsmoki-Minsk — 7,00
Lokomotiv-Kuban: After Evgeny Pashutin took the leadership of the team they haven’t lost yet: 4 consecutive wins let them settle in top-3. Loko is a pure favourite in game vs the Dragons even if Dmitriy Kulagin is absent: the guard has a little injury, which made him miss game against Nizhny Novgorod. With their number one offensive option absent Loko against Nizhny struggled in terms of offense but took the lead. However, there is a chance that Dmitriy Kulagin will recover before this game.
Tsmoki-Minsk: Rostislav Vergun’s team in last round gained important victory over Avtodor. The key factor was team’s bench that outscored its rivals 52:2 – mostly via efforts of striking duo Branko Mirkovic – Alexandre Gavrilovic. It’s interesting that Mirkovic became team’s best player in October’s game vs Lokomotiv – then headed by Luka Banchi Kuban were close to suffer from second loss in their 15-game confrontation history. Although, it would be extremely hard for the Dragons to resist Loko who lost only once at their homecourt and outpace Tsmoki in most statistical indicators.
January 19, Sunday
Khimki (Russia) vs Enisey (Russia)
Time: 15:00 (15:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, Khimki, BCMO
Broadcast: Match! Strana
Odds by Fonbet: Khimki — 1,04, Enisey — 11,00
Khimki: They have confirmed their leadership in the regular season with a confident victory over CSKA, and took a two-week break in the league. This is due to the extremely tight schedule of their team in the Euroleague, where they played three games. In these games, the team of Rimas Kurtinaitis lost twice – first to the St. Petersburg Zenit, and then to Valencia. For these defeats, Khimki fully took out on Real Madrid: the Spanish team, which in the last round of the Euroleague lost to another Russian team – CSKA, could not show anything to the other leader of the United League. Alexey Shved played a brilliant game and led all the offense of his team – 21 points and 13 assists. The only thing that may cause concern for the Khimki coaching staff is the injury of Devin Booker, who completely outplayed the former Khimki player Jordan Mickey who now plays in Madrid
Enisey: After a powerful start of the season, when Enisey competed for a place in the top three for a long time, the Siberians slowed down. In last five game, they lost four times to the teams below in the standings. What is significant, the team of Drazen Anzulovich managed to snatch victory only from the formal favorite – UNICS. By the way, the game with Khimki in October is one of the few where they were unable to confirm their status as a “giant-killers”: Khimki dealt with their counterparts without any problems, have beaten them with a difference of 20 points. If Enisey lose to Khimki in this game too, then they risk to fall into the zone of struggle of participation in the playoffs – Zielona Gora may get ahead of Krasnoyarsk team in this round.
January 20, Monday
Kalev (Estonia) vs Avtodor (Russia)
Time: 19:00 (20:00 МSК)
Place: Estonia, Tallinn, Kalevi Spordihall
Broadcast: League’s web-site
Kalev: Both teams came to this game with the same streaks of three defeats in a row. And if Avtodor from the beginning of the season struggled to get out of the bottom of the table, then Kalev even went in the top three for some time and now take all efforts to return to the playoff zone. The chances of victory so far seem more preferable for the Estonian team: Avtodor frankly weakly play on the road and got only 1 victory in 6 games. Moreover, away Avtodor is especially unsuccessful in offence plays (with 79.8 points on average per game, Avtodor takes third place from the end in the League – only Kalev and Astana are less scoring in away games).
Avtodor: The game of these rivals in the first round of the current season has become significant for Avtodor. They defeated the Tallinn team, the roster which was then led by Evgeny Pashutin, took their first victory of the season, and also for the first time reached the mark of 100 points scored. Now the exam for Kalev will be held by the new coach of Avtodor – Predrag Krunic. For Saratov victory in this round is vital. It will not only allow them to bounce back from a loss to Tsmoki, but it will also give them an opportunity to catch up with Nizhny and Kalev and seriously engage in the fight for the 8th place. Like in the first game between these opponents, the main achievements should be expected from the powerful duo of the Saratov “big guys” Isaiah Hicks and Mouhammadou Jaiteh – then this couple brought their team 40 points and 28 rebounds combined, completely dominating the “paint” of the Tallinn team.
Zenit (Russia) vs CSKA (Russia)
Time: 20:00 (20:00 МSК)
Place: Russia, St. Petersburg, Sibur Arena
Broadcast: Match TV
Odds by Fonbet: Zenit — 2,45, CSKA — 1,55
Zenit: The year 2020 began for them with bad news: first, star center Gustavo Ayon dropped out, and then Dmitry Khvostov, who was just recovering, also missed a few games. At the same time, Zenit has nothing to complain about their game: they started this year with a victory over Tsmoki then held two very successful games in the Euroleague. First they defeated Khimki, despite the wonderful game of Shved, who scored 30 points, and continued their winning streak, taking revenge from the Baskonia for loss in the first round. More importantly, Zenit is one of the few teams that have experience with victories over CSKA this season. In the first round Zenit with an accurate shot of Evgeny Voronov in the end and the unsuccessful actions of the CSKA, was written down in history – before that, CSKA had never lost 2 of 3 games at the start of the championship.
CSKA: They lost to Khimki on the road and they are already significantly behind the first place, so they need the victory in the game against Zenit like the air. However, the Euroleague games showed that the winning mood of the Red-blues has not disappeared. First, CSKA defeated Bayern Munich, and then held a truly unique game against Real Madrid. The Spaniards, who before the game with CSKA did not lose 13 games in a row, could not oppose anything to the rock-solid defense of CSKA: the team of Dimitris Itoudis allowed Madrid to score only 55 points. CSKA rookie Howard Sant-Ross, one of the best guards in Europe, who moved from AEK and helped enforce the army’s defense in the game, made a successful debut in this game.
