Nizhny Novgorod welcomes Astana to the Russian heartland in the Game of the Week.
Where:
Sports Palace (capacity 5,500), Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
When:
4:00 PM (4:00 MSK), March 18, 2018
TV:
VTB-League.com
Face to Face
Nizhny Novgorod and Astana have met 11 times on the court with the Russian enjoying an 8-3 edge. These two teams also met in the first round of the 2014 playoffs. Nizhny Novgorod swept Astana in two games, then knocked off one seed Khimki in the quarterfinals, ultimately advancing to the championship vs. CSKA.
Sunday’s game promises to be one of the most important match-ups this rivalry has seen.
Looking Back
Intrigue
We’ve never seen a playoff race like this in the VTB United League before. Every single team in the League could still make the postseason with less than two months remaining in the regular season. Nizhny Novgorod and Astana are 7th and 11th in the standings, respectively, but only two wins separate the two clubs.
These teams met earlier this season in Kazakhstan with Nizhny enjoying an 85-73 win. The next five games played out very differently: Nizhny went 1-4, but impressed in razor-thin defeats to UNICS (-2), Zenit (-3) and Khimki (-3). With that gauntlet behind them, the Russians are preparing for a make-or-break stretch, with games vs. Tsmoki-Minsk, VEF and PARMA coming after the meeting with Astana. It’s time for Zoran Lukic’s men to convert improved performances vs. the League’s best teams into victories.
For Astana, the defeat to Nizhny Novgorod forced Kostas Flevarakis out of the club. The Kazakh champions were in second-to-last place at the time (2-9) and decided to promote assistant Mikhail Karpenko, who was named interim head coach. The young Russian boss is working wonders with the roster. Astana has become more disciplined under Karpenko, scoring several stunning upsets to go 4-1 since early January, including victories vs. Zenit and Khimki. Astana is now in 7th place with a 6-10 record, leading Nizhny by one game (4-10), though everything could change depending on the outcome of Sunday’s game.
Balance of Power
Nizhny secured a spot in the FIBA Europe Cup quarterfinals earlier in the week by defeating Keravnos at home. Astana was also busy, winning two games vs. Kaspy in the Kazakh league to finish the season in 1st place. Karpenko made it clear that those two games would serve as preparation for the weekend blockbuster in the VTB United League.
Duel
Stevan Jelovac vs. Ike Udanoh.
Karpenko has had a positive effect on the team as a whole, but especially Ike Udanoh. The American has dominated in recent outings, posting 14 points and 14 rebounds vs. Tsmoki, then dropping 21 points and 10 rebounds on Zenit. He also contributed 16 points and six rebounds in the win over Khimki.
Jelovac also has a great relationship with fellow Serb Zoran Lukic in Nizhny Novgorod. Jelovac is the team’s unquestioned leader and playing the best basketball of his career. His legendary game vs. Kalev (League-record 49 points) and invite to the Serbian national team were a few weeks ago and he’ll be hard to stop, especially at home.
Quotes
Nizhny Novgorod head coach Zoran Lukic:
– Our opponent has won four times in its last five games, all under a new coach. Mikhail Karpenko, unlike his predecessor, trusts the Kazakh players and gives them more time on the court. They’ve responded by playing hard, especially on the offensive glass. In other words, they are doing the dirty work and helping out the team.
Our backs are against the wall. We need to win, but this isn’t the same team we faced two months ago. Our win in Astana should not mislead us. Our opponent is now above us in the standings. We understand what’s at stake in Sunday’s game. But you need to win the game on the court, not by talking.
Astana head coach Mikhail Karpenko:
– Nizhny Novgorod is a very serious opponent. Even though they only have four wins this season, many of their games, including some against the top teams, went down to the final minutes. Zoran Lukic has a young team, and not everyone on the team has experience in tight games. We’ll try to take advantage of this, but much will depend on whether or not we can slow down Nizhny’s four leaders. I’m talking about Stevan Jelovac, Petr Gubanov, Ivan Strebkov and Jake Odum. That’s their core and they score a lot of points, especially Jelovac. When he’s capable of scoring 40 points in a game, he deserves extra attention on defense.
