On Saturday, Nizhny Novgorod and Zielona Gora will host 2 regular season games.
Saturday, November 13
Nizhny Novgorod (Russia) — Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus)
Time: 16:00 (Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Nizhny Novgorod, KRK Nagorny
Broadcast: Match! Strana, TV Start, Mir Basketbola, League website
Rivalry history: 15 games, Nizhny Novgorod — 11 wins, Tsmoki-Minsk – 4 wins
Nizhny Novgorod: After an uncertain start of the season, Nizhny are gradually finding their rhythm. Having won three games in the last four rounds, Nizhny has gained a foothold at the top of the standings, and if it can succeed in this round, it will equal the number of CSKA wins. Zoran Lukic’s team main weapon is three-pointers – works flawlessly: Nizhny ranks second in the League (41.7%).
Tsmoki-Minsk: the Minsk team were the last in the United League, finally managed to open the win count this season. The Dragons beat Kalev. And yet Rostislav Vergun’s players game is still far from ideal. This is especially true for perimeter protection. The Minsk team missed 15 three-pointers from Avtodor, 17 from Zielona Gora. And now the Belarusian team will have the game with one of the strongest sniper teams of the League.
Who to follow: Ivan Strebkov proves with his game that Anton Kardanakhishvili will have to work hard to take away the playing time from Nizhny sniper. The W over PARMA was in many ways a personal success for Strebkov – he scored 23 points, 9 rebounds and 27 eff. points.
Zielona Gora (Poland) — Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia)
Time: 19:00 (21:00 Moscow time)
Location: Poland, Zielona Góra, CRS Hala Zielona Góra
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Rivalry games: 6 gamess, Lokomotiv-Kuban — 6 wins
Zielona Gora: The October vwin over Tsmoki has so far turned out to be just a pleasant episode — already in the next round, Zielona Gora could not oppose anything to Zenit’s offence. Now Oliver Vidin’s team is facing an even more dangerous offence. In the game with Loko, Gura will literally try to stand up for the Polish basketball honor — this week Loko defeated their compatriots from Slask in the EuroCup.
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Having scored 101 points to Enisey, Loko secured the status of the most resultative team in the League (93.4 points on average per game). Another success was the EuroCup game with Slask, where Loko once again confirmed its hyper-attacking reputation (98 points). Alan Williams, who has returned from the serious injury, is slowly gaining condition. So far, this is not the same dominator and contender for the MVP title as he was a year ago, but his flair for bouncing the ball has not disappeared anywhere — in the EuroCup game against the Poles, the center collected 11 rebounds in 10 minutes on the floor.
Who to follow: the game with Slask became a landmark for another Loko player — young Russian Zakhar Vedishchev played his best game of the season, scoring 14 points (a personal best in the EuroCup).
