On Sunday, Minsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov and Tallinn will host 4 United League regular season games.
Sunday, October 10
Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus) — PARMA (Russia)
Time: 13:00 (Moscow time)
Location: Belarus, Minsk, Falcon Club
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Games history: 9 games, Tsmoki-Minsk – 5 wins, PARMA – 4 wins
Tsmoki-Minsk: Minsk team started the season with two losses in a row. But if everything was clear in the game against CSKA by the big break, then in the duel with Loko squad, the Belarusians resisted desperately, made a comeback from -21 and had chances to win until the last minutes. PARMA, noticeably strengthened in the off-season, does not have such player capabilities as CSKA, which means that Tsmoki is quite able to compete for the first win this season — however, although the games history against PARMA Rostislav Vergun’s squad is positive, the last time it beat the Perm Krai team almost two years ago.
PARMA-PARIMATCH: Last season, Kazys Maksvytis took the Perm club to the playoffs for the first time in the history, forcing fans to remember the glory days of Ural-Great. They did not manage to go far, but now they clearly consider last season as a springboard for new successes. During the off-season, the Perm front office was one of the most active in the transfer marketand such strong players as Jeremiah Hill, Evgeny Voronov and Arsiom Parakhouski joined the team. Since most of the leading players of last year’s squad stayed in the team, PARMA is quite capable of aiming for something more than last year’s eighth place.
Who to follow: Belarusian giant Artyom Parakhouski played for Tsmoki for the first time in his career last season, showing that it’s too early to write him off — his averages (10.5 points and 6.8 rebounds) are evidence of this. It is likely that the center will come out against his compatriots and recent teammates from the very first minutes of the game.
Nizhny Novgorod (Russia) — Astana (Kazakhstan)
Time: 14:30 (Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Nizhny Novgorod, KRK Nagorny
Broadcast: Match! Igra, League website
Games history: 17 games, Nizhny Novgorod — 14 wins, Astana – 3 wins
Nizhny Novgorod: Although Nizhny Novgorod first game in the season was unsuccessful, it can hardly be considered indicative — like Minsk team, Nizhny Novgorod met with the running champion team- CSKA. Despite the final 20 points loss, there were bright moments in this game. For example, Mikhail Kulagin who scored 16 points to his former team, made a bid that he could take away the best scorer of Nizhny Novgorod award from Anton Astapkovich. Nizhny Novgorod played the Champions League opening game much weaker, where they lost to Unicaja. The main problem of the team, according to Zoran Lukic— is the lack of play, since the club was able to close the leading position of the point guard only before the start of the season. Do not forget that the best defensive player of the team, Evgeniy Baburin, did not take part in the game against CSKA.
Astana: If before the start of the season it seemed that Emil Rajkovic departure could be a big shock for Astana, then Darko Russo demonstrated the seriousness of his intentions in his debut game. Astana managed to beat Zenit with the style, and this win can be called “the coach win”: during the big break, Astana coaching staff reacted with lightning speed to the team’s unsuccessful game in the second quarter and made adjustments that turned the course of the game. One of the main newcomers of the team in the offseason was Jaylen Barford, and in his first game he fully justified the advances — 24 points and 4 steals.
Who to follow: Nizhny Novgorod is usually called the base club of the Russian national team, but it seems that there is a player in Astana who will be able to help the National Team in the future: the son of the legendary Valeriy Tikhonenko, Mark, made a very successful debut in the United League against the winner of the last regular season (9 points and 6 rebounds). At the same time, of all the Astana players, he spent the most time on the floor — 32 minutes.
Avtodor (Russia) — Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia)
Time: 17:30 (16:30 Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Saratov, LDS Kristal
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Games history: 14 games, Lokomotiv-Kuban — 10 wins, Avtodor – 4 wins
Avtodor: Emil Rajkovic team in his first game of the season made him remember Avtodor two or three years ago, when he was coached by the current Loko coach, Evgeniy Pashutin. Saratov players acted without regard to defense, scoring 97 points, but they also afford to score 93: at the moment this is the most resultative game of the season. It is not surprising that at the press conference Rajkovic first of all noted that the team needs to adjust the game in defense. How much Avtodor coaching staff will have time to do this by the game against Loko is still a question. The games of these teams usually turn out to be very intresting: in the March game, which ended with Loko win, the teams scored 193 points for two.
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Although the railwaymen went to the game versus Tsmoki in the favor status, the game turned out to be very difficult for them, and the Krasnodar team were able to pull the game out mainly because of Eric McCollum fantastic game, who set a club performance record. The main event for Loko in this game was not only the win, but also Stanislav Ilnitsky debut, who missed six months due to injury, and newcomer Greg Whittington. Although the forwards did not show great performance, they did not look like outsiders on the court, and Ilnitsky became one of Loko leaders in plus or minus. It is quite possible that in a duel with Avtodor, Evgeniy Pashutin will give basketball players rolling into the season more playing time.
Who to follow: In the last round, the players of both teams were noted for their bright performances. McCollum’s 38 points were the current record for the performance of the season, and Kenny Chery contributed to his team’s win with 28 points. Their duel is potentially one of the highlights of the game weekend.
Kalev (Estonia) — Enisey (Russia)
Time: 17:00 (Moscow time)
Location: Estonia, Tallinn, Kalevi Spordihall
Broadcast: Mir Basketbola, League website
Games history: 16 games, Kalev – 8 wins, Enisey- 8 wins
Kalev: Although Kalev started with two losses, these games turned out to be very different. If in the first game of the season Tallinn team offence stalled the whole game (60 points scored against Zenit), then the duel with the Saratov team turned out to be much more fun, but the team’s defense showed itself badly here. Even 93 points scored and an impressive double-double by JeQkuan Lewis (17 points and 12 assists) did not help. So far, instability seems to be Tallinn main problem: for example, having started the game against Strasbourg well, Kalev scored only 12 points in the second quarter, which ultimately influenced the final result of the game. If Enisey is just starting the season, then Kalev’s schedule is almost as full as the Euroleague teams. Kalev’s fatigue was noticeable in the game endings with both Avtodor and Strasbourg.
Enisey: In the history of face-to-face games, Kalev and Enisey have parity — 8 wins in 16 matches. So last season, the teams exchanged victories, and both opponents, curiously, won away. The current season began cheerlessly for the Siberians: in the qualifying round of the FIBA Europe Cup, they lost to Hapoel and could not get into the tornament main stage. Therefore, now the Krasnoyarsk team can concentrate on the United League, where they will try to get into the playoffs for the first time in Drazen Anzulovic’s career.
Who to follow: Davion Barry made a name for himself in Russia just as part of Enisey. In the 2019/20 season, the American guard was the most productive basketball player of the Krasnoyarsk squad, scored 18.1 points (fourth place in the League) and naturally participated in the All-Star Game that season.
