Three VTB League games are coming this weekend.
October 26, Saturday
Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus) – UNICS (Russia)
Time: 15:00 (15:00 MSK)
Venue: Sports Palace, Minsk, Belarus
Broadcast: Match! Igra
Fonbet odds: Tsmoki-Minsk win — 5,50, UNICS win — 1,15
Tsmoki-Minsk having lost the first three games of the season, opted to strengthen the roster by signing Robert Lowery – who had been one of VEF leaders and had a fantastic 2016/17 season in Astana with 14.4 points and 4.2 assists. Considering Tsmoki’s mediocre results in offense (less than 80 points per game) this may be the right move. Defense could also use some improvements, but the stat of points allowed (94.7 per game) was heavily influenced by the game against CSKA (scored 114 points).
UNICS: according to Dimitris Priftis, UNICS are currently having extremely bad luck. 8th place in the standings after two losses in a row, injuries of Kostas Kaimakoglu and Raymar Morgan, Dmitrii Uzinskii ill. On Wednsday, there was finally something good in this days of bad luck: Kazan passed through Joventut in a Eurocup game. Erick McCollum led UNICS as usual: he had an outstanding game with 32 points and personal career best in efficiency (41 points) which resulted in Eurocup 4th week MVP award. He will try to maintain this level to continue UNICS’ 3-year winning streak over Tsmoki.
PARMA (Russia) – Kalev (Estonia)
Time: 17:30 (15:30 MSK)
Venue: UDS Molot, Perm, Russia
Broadcast: League site
Fonbet odds: PARMA win — 1,70, Kalev win — 2,15
PARMA still haven’t won a game this season. But it’s wrong to deem them underdogs. PARMA fought in all three games (including CSKA), and Nizhny and Enisey probably had a bit of luck to win in a clutch. Perm shows decent offense: they are on the fourth place for offense with 87 points per game. However, their defense is something to fix given 94.7 points allowed per game. PARMA and Tsmoki are League’s worst teams in this measurement.
Kalev continues to shock consecutively beating two contenders: UNICS and Zenit. And they show the quality. Kalev is on the second place and will definitely try to maintain the success. There are two key factors to Kalev’s sensation: flawless defense (the second place for points allowed after Khimki – 75.8 points per game), and long range shots accuracy (the third place in three-pointers percentage – 40.4). Zenit head coach Joan Plaza, after the game in Tallinn, said his team was destroyed by Kalev’s three-pointer percentage. This could be a problem for PARMA as they allowed 10 of 20 three-pointers from Enisey.
October 27, Sunday
Zenit (Russia) – Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia)
Time: 14:30 (14:30 MSK)
Venue: Sibur Arena, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Broadcast: Match TV
Fonbet odds: Zenit win — 1,55, Lokomotiv-Kuban win — 2,45
Zenit and Loko are contenders of this season, but currently fighting only for a Top-3 spot. Petersburg had a nice start, but then suffered two painful losses from the underdogs: Nizhny Novgorod and Kalev. Tallinn loss was not the last upset of the week as Zenit were beaten by Panathinaikos in a Euroleague game. The big trouble is that the captain and of the key players of Zenit Evgeny Voronov suffers ankle injury, and it’s still a question if he’s ready play against Loko. This is a big loss given that Joan Plaza’s team is not that tight when defending the perimeter. Facing Zenit, Kalev managed to score 12 of 24 from beyond the arc.
Lokomotiv-Kuban are currently the worst team of the League in three-pointers percentage (28.8%), and it’s hard to say if they can take advantage of Zenit’s problems. However, Kuban showed imrpovements in longe range shots against UNICS (scored 6 of 15). And still, most points (50) came through the paint. If the guests will keep that style against Zenit, Gustavo Ayon who plays with a small injury will be under big pressure. The result will depend on his ability to close the way to the rim. It’s curious that Lokomotiv – traditionally defensive team – is in Top-3 for points scored (87.3 per game), and Zenit – who is supposed to be an offensive one – take only the eigth place (80.8 points)
