On Saturday, Sunday and Monday 4 regular season games will take place.
November 7, Saturday
Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus) vs Avtodor (Russia)
Time: 13:00 (13:00 MSK)
Place: Belarus, Minsk, Falcon Club
Broadcast: Match! Strana
Tsmoki-Minsk: Belarus started the season with three game road tour and now debut at home. The Dragons have almost stood quarantine difficulties, none of team players are infected and absent players are recovering from injuries as usual. To be honest, in the game against Zielona Gora it didn’t help, Tsmoki lost with almost full roster. However, on Wednesday they proved themselves in Champions League leaving no chance to Cholet in their first game in the tournament.
Avtodor: Saratov started the season unsuccessfully but then recovered beating the front runner Khimki and outclassing Astana. Young Nikita Mikhailovskii was bright in those games scoring 16 and 21 points. However, Avtodor still have 0 away victories this season. Nevertheless, Saratov beat their rivals in almost each statistical parameter and if they extend their winning streak to 3 games they will significantly outrun Astana (8th) in standings.
November 8, Sunday
PARMA (Russia) vs Enisey (Russia)
Time: 17:30 (15:30 MSK)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: TV Start
PARMA: At the moment PARMA is one of two League’s teams with no defeats. However, they have spent the fewest number of games yet in the League, 2. The win over CSKA can be considered sensation but the victory against Avtodor was much more confident, PARMA won with 23-point lead. The biggest disadvantage for Ural is lack of practice, the last time the team played was more than month ago, unlike Enisey had game practice.
Enisey: Enisey still can’t escape the bottom of the standings. The schedule is to be blamed, at the start of the season Krasnoyarsk played against 3 contenders (CSKA, UNICS and Khimki). Mikhail Kulagin feels more confident in team’s leader role, in the last game against CSKA he scored 21 of 60 team points. By the way, as CSKA player Kulagin met PARMA multiple times and his team won, one time he played an important role scoring 15 points. However, this time Ural is a front runner as Siberians offense is second worst in the League (70,5 points) while PARMA’s is second best (95,0).
Zielona Gora (Poland) vs Zenit (Russia)
Time: 19:00 (21:00 MSK)
Place: Poland, Zielona Gora, CRS Hala Zielona Góra
Broadcast: Match! Strana
Zielona Gora: After 4 consecutive losses on the start of the season Zielona Gora finally managed to please their fans beating the Dragons. However, now the opponent is on the different level that haven’t lost for 5 games in a row. All of 4 games against Zenit they lost with average difference of 20 points, thus although Zielona Gora play at home Petersburg are considered clear front runners. The interesting point is that in many statistical parameters the Poles aren’t worse and in some even better than Zenit but the key difference is defence: Zenit is second best in points allowed (69,8 per game on average) Poland is third worst with more than 90 points, they beat only Tsmoki and Astana in this indicator.
Zenit: Zenit’s winning streak is prolonged in November, on the first day Petersburg easily beat Astana. This game was debut for Dmitriy Khvostov, the guard played for the first time in 8 months and made 4 assists. However, they didn’t manage to stay undefeated in Euroleague losing to Olympiacos, Xavi Pascual squad suffer first season loss. The Greeks managed to hold Zenit’s offense, the key period was second quarter when Petersburg scored only 7 points.
November 9, Monday
Khimki (Russia) vs CSKA (Russia)
Time: 20:00 (20:00 MSK)
Place: Russia, Khimki, BCMO
Broadcast: Match TV
Khimki: Among all the “Big Five” members Khimki are the most unstable. In 6 starting games Khimki have already lost 4 times and now aren’t in the play-off zone. Of course, Khimki’s participation in the play-offs isn’t doubtable but Rimas Kurtinaitis crew have to work hard to hold the higher place in standings. Both teams won’t have much time to prepare for the game, on Friday teams will play in Euroleague, Khimki will come to Turkey and CSKA to Greece. Khimki are still suffering from multiple injuries: Devin Booker, Egor Vialtsev and Sergey Monia won’t play against Fenerbahce, thus their final roster in the game against CSKA is a big question.
CSKA: For CSKA last week was a success. Firstly, they beat Valencia in Euroleague and then left no chance to Enisey beating them with 49-point lead (the biggest CSKA win this season). The most important Red-Blues’ advantage over Khimki that may become the key point is their locked and loaded roster. If CSKA win this game they will make the top-3 and outpace Lokomotiv-Kuban.
