Three regular season games will take place on Saturday and Sunday.
November 14, Saturday
Time: 17:00 (17:00 MSK)
Venue: CEC Nahorny, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Broadcast: Mir basketbola
Nizhny Novgorod: Their last game, a special one for Zoran Lukic (150 games as a head ceach in the League), was started well. They took the lead against Lokomotiv, but three weeks withoutd games turned out to be a factor. Having regular practice, Loko managed to take the game over, and Alan Williams came up with the final slam. However, this time, Nizhny will face a team with a similar problem – lack of games. Worth to mention: even though Nizhny leads the faceoff 6:2, Perm score more points in average – 90.0 vs 89.2 for Nizhny. All in all, the stats show that Nizhny and PARMA bring high-scoring games.
PARMA had been holding the second longest undefeated record after Zenit. But the schedule helped a lot as PARMA had played only two games by early November. Home loss from Enisey ranked in the bottom of the table was a shock for Perm. They couldn’t hold Mikhail Kulain who showed his best performance this sason. At the time, both teams hold 2-1 records which means this game will make a difference in the ranking table.
TIme: 18:00 (20:00 MSK)
Venue: CRS Hala Zielona Gora, ZIelona Gora, Poland
Broadcast: Match! Strana
Zielona Gora couldn’t take advantage of Geoffrey Groselle’s perfect fintess. Even with his 23 points, Zan Tabak’s side were beaten by Zenit, and this time the face another top team. In the ‘Green derby’ against UNICS, the Polish team lost all 4 games. Kazan have already recovered after Loko, so Zielona Gora’s attempts to get a home win will be a struggle.
UNICS suffered the first loss last week in Krasnodar. Amends were made in Eurocup, where they downed Venezia and Bahcesehir. Moreover, with the Turkish team, Kazan came back from 17 points behinds. Therefore, Dimitris Priftis’ side keep on optimistic track before this game, and they definitely eye on the third win in the League which would bring a top spot in the ranking table.
November 15, Sunday
Time: 17:00 (16:00 MSK)
Venue: Crystal SP, Saratov, Russia
Broadcast: TV Start
Avtodor: Both teams come to this game with a winning attitude: 3 straight wins for Avtodor and 4 for Lokomotiv. Curiously, both teams had had their last loss from CSKA, and later on came to winning track. Obviously, crucial factor of the game is Saratov’s frontcourt of Drew Gordon and Zelko Sakic guarding Alan Williams who is in great shape this spring. Another intrigue is performance of Russian players who have made a lot of noise recently. Nikita Mikhailovskii was not the brightest against Tsmoki, but 19-year-old Anton Kvitkovskikh stepped up big time and was included into Team of the week.
Lokomotiv-Kuban didn’t find much luck in Eurocup this week. Virtus led by Milos Teodosic left no chance for the Railway team even with Alan Williams’ double-double of 15+18 rebounds. However, this time Loko look like a fronrunner despite the away game. Kuban lead in key stats: much more offensie, ranked first in rebounds (41.0 per game) and assists (23.0) while Saratov are second from the bottom.
