On Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday 5 regular season games take place.
March 20, Saturday
Zenit (Russia) vs Enisey (Russia)
Time: 20:00 (20:00 МSК)
Venue: Russia, Saint Petersburg, SK Yubileyny
Broadcast: Mir Basketball
Odds by Fonbet: Zenit — 1,14, Enisey — 5,75
Previous game: 3rd January 2021, Zenit won (85:67)
Zenit: They have officially made the playoffs, but their ambitions certainly won’t stop there. Xavi Pascual’s team is serious about surpassing its best result (second place in the 2016/17 season) to win the regular season for the first time in its history. It is true that Zenit has been experiencing a bit of a setback lately. In their last four games, they have suffered two defeats – more than in the entire previous season. At the same time, every game was marked with a tight ending. That trend was evident in their most recent Euroleague game, where they led by 17 points against Basconia but ultimately lost by a score of 75-79.
Enisey: Since their United League debut in 2014, the Siberians have failed to defeat Zenit even once – their winless streak is now 13 games. In recent games Enisey hasn’t been playing perfect either. The defense, which played great role against Astana and Kalev, was unable to hold off stronger opponent CSKA (91 points allowed), Lokomotiv-Kuban (100) and especially Zielona Gora (117, a season lowest stat). At the moment Drazen Anzulovic’s squad is the last team in the league in terms of defense (87.5 conceded points per game on average).
March 21, Sunday
Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus) vs Astana (Kazakhstan)
Time: 15:00 (15:00 MSK)
Venue: Belarus, Minsk, Falcon Club
Broadcast: TV Start, Mir Basketball
Odds by Fonbet: Tsmoki-Minsk — 2,35, Astana — 1,60
Previous game: 2nd February 2020, Tsmoki-Minsk won (96:77)
Tsmoki-Minsk: They suffered their seventh consecutive loss last week, with their offense showing extra low efficiency: Kris Clyburn scored 22 of his 57 points in the game against Nizhny, while the rest of the team scored 35. In that regard, Tsmoki’s current opponent, despite suffering six straight losses, defended well. In 2021, Astana allowed 82 points only in their game with Avtodor. Their main trouble with the game is on the offence. Tsmoki and Astana are, respectively, last and last but one in the league in points scored. So the game between them is unlikely to be high-scoring.
Astana: The game against Tsmoki is practically the last chance for them to at least formally determine their playoff chances. Other than facing Minsk in the final game, Astana won’t have to face their closest rivals (at best, we can add PARMA, but they’re in a much better position). In April, they’ll face tough competition from CSKA, Loko and UNICS. Astana managed to defeat only Lokomotiv-Kuban in the first round.
March 22, Monday
Kalev (Estonia) vs CSKA (Russia)
Time: 19:00 (20:00 MSK)
Venue: Estonia, Tallinn, Kalevi Spordihall
Broadcast: Match! Strana, Basketball World
Odds by Fonbet: Kalev — 5,75, CSKA — 1,14
Previous game: 7th February 2021, Kalev won (107:102)
Kalev: Kalev’s February victory over CSKA, the first in the history of the Tallinn club, was one of the most striking sensations of the 2020/21 season. But Kalev continued to surprise even after that, in every way – both good and bad. After a clearly unsuccessful game against UNICS (Kalev scored only 49 points, their worst result of the season), they came through with an impressive win against Zielona Gora, the season’s biggest opener. Fantastic game of the duo Marcus Keene (30 points and 10 assists) and Janari Joesaar (29 points and 12 rebounds) was a key reason for their victory. By the way, in their game against CSKA, the duo also made 46 points, but their performance was assisted by Maurice Kemp with 24 points.
CSKA: After a disappointing start in February, CSKA slowly began to come back on track. The first success was a comfortable win over Khimki, then they confirmed its status as one of the strongest teams in Euroleague with a 96-89 victory over Real Madrid. Johannes Voigtmann shined against Khimki spending his career-high game in the United League (22 points), while against Real Madrid he was just shy of his career-high 20+10 with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Voigtmann played in those games as a stretch big man, attacking from long range at every opportunity – so he scored against Real Madrid 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Voigtmann’s likely teammate in this game, Maurice Kemp, is not doing his best, with only one unsuccessful three-point attempt against Zielona Gora.
Zielona Gora (Poland) vs Khimki (Russia)
Time: 18:00 (20:00 MSK)
Venue: Poland, Zielona Gora, CRS Hala Zielona Góra
Broadcast: Match!
Previous game: February 28, 2021, Zielona Gora won (99:94)
Zielona Gora: The Polish team has only two more games to play this season – a trip to Kazakhstan on March 25 will sum up the current regular season for Zielona Gora. No matter their place in the standings, there’s no doubt: Zan Tabak has created one of the most interesting and original teams in the League. In theory, though, they could still forfeit their spot in the top five: Nizhny Novgorod, currently in sixth place, has five games left to play. That’s why victories over Khimki and Astana are a must for the Poles. By the way, the previous game against Khimki was the Poles’ first since the departure of their top scorer, Iffe Lundberg, to CSKA. Geoffrey Groselle took over and his 27 points helped Zielena Gora to get their first win over Khimki in the history of their head-to-head games.
Khimki: The loss against CSKA seriously complicated Khimki’s position. Of the teams in seventh through ninth place, Khimki are in a very good position. They played fewer games than their primary rivals (PARMA and Avtodor) and have a favorable schedule for the rest of the season. Interestingly, their final game of the season (against Avtodor) may well be a playoff battle. The most important thing for Khimki now is not to compound their roster problems: In their game against CSKA, for example, they lost another key player, Sergey Karasev, who played only seven minutes.
March 23, Tuesday
Avtodor (Russia) vs Zenit (Russia)
Time: 19:00 (18:00 MSK)
Venue: Russia, Saratov, Crystal Palace
Broadcast: TV Start
Previous game: January 10, 2021, win for Zenit (97:71)
Avtodor: Saratov continues to struggle to make it to the playoffs, but overall their unlucky streak is somewhat longer. After a five-game win streak in the fall, thanks to which Avtodor made it to the top eight, they played 12 games and won only three of them. All that had forced the club’s management to take extreme measures – five games before the end of the season, Gordy Herbert, the head coach, resigned. The meeting with Zenit would be their club’s first under the new coach, Vladislav Konovalov. The emotional shake-up produced by the new coach could help Avtodor get revenge for their first-round game when Zenit won by a final score of +26.
Zenit: They has a big advantage in face-to-face encounters with Avtodor: 14 wins in 18 games. They are now also the favorites, despite the away game. UNICS Kazan misses this weekend, so their two victories over opponents from the bottom of the standings may allow Zenit to pull away for good amount of points. In that case, they would have 18 wins, while UNICS would have 16. On March 27, the team from the capital of Tatarstan will face another challenger for the lead, CSKA.
