What you need to know ahead of the weekend’s games.
Sunday, April 9
Enisey (Russia) – VEF (Latvia)
Time: 4:10 PM (12:10 MSK)
Place: Arena.Sever, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
TV: VTB-League.com
Enisey: As the regular season draws to a close, each game increases in importance. Sunday’s match-up in Krasnoyarsk will almost certainly decide who finishes in 6th place. A Enisey win by four or more points virtually guarantees a top-six finish. Even though the team has already clinched a playoff spot, they will be motivated to build on that success in front of the home fans. Enisey, after all, is an impressive 6-3 in the Arena Sever.
VEF: Riga also needs a win to avoid finishing 7th or worse. Should VEF come up short in Krasnoyarsk, they would need to defeat Lokomotiv and Avtodor to finish the season, while hoping Enisey drops another game down the stretch.
Avtodor (Russia) – Parma (Russia)
Time: 5:00 PM (4:00 MSK)
Place: Kristall Sports Palace, Saratov, Russia
TV: VTB-League.com
Avtodor: Saratov didn’t play its best last week, scoring only 61 points against a determined Lokomotiv-Kuban squad. As a result, Avtodor now needs to win out to have any chance of making the postseason… and hope for some help from Astana and Nizhny Novgorod. The schedule does not look promising, starting with Parma, who broke through with a win against Minsk and will be ravenous for another taste of victory.
Parma: Parma let a win slip away once this season against Avtodor. On the verge of picking up its first victory of the season, Perm was outgunned by Saratov’s Brendan Frazier in overtime to the disappointment of a sold-out Molot Arena. Since then, Parma has gained a lot of experience, which it proved last week in the win over Tsmoki-Minsk. If Viacheslav Shushakov’s men, who are under absolutely no pressure, get hot, Avtodor could be in trouble. On defense, Parma might try to copy Loko’s strategy against Avtodor and keep Nick Minnerath out of the paint as they go for two wins in a row.
Nizhny Novgorod (Russia) – Astana (Kazakhstan)
Time: 4:00 PM (4:00 MSK)
Place: Sports Palace, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
TV: VTB-League.com
Nizhny Novgorod: Nizhny Novgorod hosts a game with huge playoff implications on Sunday. This is the home team’s last chance to rescue its playoff hopes, after a mostly disastrous regular season campaign. The game in Khimki demonstrated that the team is playing some of its best basketball down the stretch, but giving up 90+ points to Moscow Region once again canceled out a strong showing on offense.
At the same time, Nizhny averages 14 points per game less than Khimki and shouldn’t give the Russians quite as much trouble. Nizhny does need to win by 10 or more points to earn the tiebreaker, but anything is possible playing at home in front of a supportive crowd.
Astana: Kazakhstan has been in the top-eight for months and may have let its guard down a little too early. Head coach Ilias Papatheodorou said his team played its worst game of the season in the loss to Enisey, adding that several players seemed to have decided the season was already over. Now Astana is in dangerous territory. After Nizhny, the Kazakhs take on Khimki and UNICS to finish the campaign, while the Russians only have one game left against Minsk.
At the same time, Papatheodorou and co. can clinch a spot in the postseason for good with a victory on Sunday. Astana’s fate rests in its own hands.
Khimki (Russia) – Zenit (Russia)
Time: 5:00 PM (5:00 MSK)
Place: BCMO, Khimki, Russia
TV: Match! Nash Sport, VTB-League.com
Khimki: All eyes will be on Khimki as these two powerhouse teams decide who finishes in 2nd place. Khimki trails Zenit by a game in the standings and needs to win by five points or more to earn the tiebreaker, should the teams finish tied in the standings. It won’t be an easy game for Khimki, but Alexey Shved is healthy and ready to contribute, which makes a huge difference. Recent games against CSKA and Nizhny Novgorod showed just how much he means to the team. Khimki’s offense went into a tailspin against the Army Men without Shved; once he returned for Nizhny, Shved put up 32 points in 37 minutes, lifting his club to a big win.
Zenit: The first match-up between these two teams was an instant classic. Zenit and Khimki combined for 224 points and settled the game in dramatic fashion as Shved missed a pair of key free throws late and Aaron White was able to seal the win with a 3-pointer, set up beautifully by Sergey Karasev.
This time around, the stakes are even higher. The scoring may not be quite as prolific, but both teams like to attack the basket and the fans should be plenty entertained with Karasev and Shved looking to put their stamp on the outcome. Even with a loss by four points or less, Zenit would stay in the driver’s seat for 2nd place, so long as it wins its remaining games.
Monday, April 10
UNICS (Russia) – Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia)
Time: 7:00 PM (7:00 MSK)
Place: Basket Hall, Kazan, Russia
TV: Match! Nash Sport, VTB-League.com
UNICS: Hypothetically speaking, UNICS could still finish in 4th place and Loko could rise to 3rd. UNICS, despite a rough 2017, was able to exit the EuroLeague in style on Friday, routing Milan by 23 on the road. On the other hand, Kazan will only have two days to rest and prepare for Monday’s game in Kazan. These two teams are also likely to face each other in the quarterfinals, presenting the coaches with a unique opportunity and challenge three weeks prior to the start of the playoffs.
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Kuban dropped to 4th after losing three in a row to CSKA, Khimki and Zenit. But last week’s game against Avtodor showed the team is putting the streak in the rearview mirror. Loko got back to defense and teamwork, blowing out a Saratov team that was desperate for a win.
Loko took another bold step this week, handing Sasa Obradovic a three-year contract extension in advance of the postseason. Playing UNICS should be relatively straight-forward for Kuban. The visitors will need to be organized, as always, on defense in order to slow down Kazan’s powerful, but somewhat direct sets on offense. Loko held Keith Langford to a measly 14 points in the first meeting between these teams and will try to do the same again on Monday.
CSKA (Russia) – Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus)
Time: 7:30 PM (7:30 MSK)
Place: USH CSKA, Moscow, Russia
TV: Match! Igra, VTB-League.com
CSKA: Moscow enters the game in high spirits after taking down Olympiacos in the final game of the EuroLeague regular season, setting up a quarterfinal matchup with Baskonia. CSKA could also find out who it’s facing in the first round of the League playoffs: With a win over Minsk, CSKA clinches 1st place, while an Astana win would likely slot the Kazakhs in 8th.
Tsmoki-Minsk: Of course, Minsk doesn’t want to give CSKA that satisfaction, especially not after becoming the first team to lose to Parma. But Tsmoki will be severely out-classed against the reigning champs. The Belarusians have never defeated CSKA in 13 attempts and rank last in the League in offense (73.0 ppg vs. 93.1 ppg for CSKA). The only real intrigue in the game is whether Minsk will try to slow the tempo or run and gun with the Muscovites.
