Astana, Moscow and Perm will host 3 regular season games on Tuesday.
Astana (Astana) – Avtodor (Saratov)
Time: 19:30 (16:30 Moscow time)
Place: Kazakhstan, Astana, Saryarka
Broadcast: TV Start, Match! Igra, League website
Astana: The Kazakh team has not played at home for almost a month – the last game was on November 18 with CSKA. Now Astana will play against Avtodor at home. The team will finally be full – after all, in games against Zenit and MBA, 4 key players did not play. A separate is Darko Russo return to the capital of Kazakhstan: the Serbian coach led Astana in the previous season and now is Avtodor head coach. Oleg Kiselev team has a chance to win, especially with absence of the Volga team players, but if Astana wants to succeed, need to minimize turnovers and give the maximum in defense.
Avtodor: The Saratov team gets more active after the coach change. Already on Tuesday, Avtodor can catch up with Samara in the 7th place – despite the fact that the League newcomer will lose to CSKA and the Saratov team will win in Astana. Avtodor is much stronger than Astana in stats and in the first round game, the Volga team did not leave any chances winning with a 22-point difference. Moreover, Avtodor newcomer Scott Machado had a little time to get to know his teammates better and the guard will develop every game.
PARMA-PARI (Perm) – MINSK (Minsk)
Time: 20:00 (18:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
PARMA-PARI: The Perm team got into a rather difficult situation. After 4 losses in a row, the team is at the 9th place and outside the playoff zone, not to mention a place in the Top 6 according to the first stage results. The gap from the first 6 teams is already decent and something need to change. MINSK is one of those rivals that Evgeny Pashutin team has already beat this season and may do it again, especially since this time the game will be with fans support. Bryon Allen continues to be the leader of the team, he averages 18.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. But center Joel James may also become one of the key players of the game: there is no one in the Belarusian team even guard him and the American bigman advantage in the paint seems huge.
MINSK: The Belarusian team signed 3 players during the season, but injuries prevent them to debut well. Zach Smith and newcomer Ognjen Pantovic are injured and most recently Darol Hernandez-Zinenko joined them. It will be extremely difficult for MINSK in Perm, because everyone knows how fans are supporting there. On the other hand, now PARMA-PARI is declining and the Minsk team should take advantage of the moment. This season MINSK has already shown how to play with stronger opponents – but in this case to win, necessary to concentrate and has serious attitude for the whole game.
CSKA (Moscow) – Samara (Samara)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Arena Megasport
Broadcast: TV Start, Match! Igra, League website
CSKA: The Army team is close to winning all the games of the new season in 2022. On Friday in Minsk, CSKA showed that even without their leaders the team can win easily. On Tuesday, the Moscow team will the League newcomer. For CSKA, the game in Samara was the first of the season and Emil Raоkovic team looked stronger, only in the end allowing the Volga team to escape from huge loss. The Army team is going to update the League high for wins in a row at the start of the season and will do everything to send the newcomer home with a bad mood. Yes, CSKA has an incredibly effective offense, but also need to think about defense: it is important to look out the leaders Ennis, Theodore and Knight from the rest of the team and try to put pressure on ball handlers.
Samara: The Volga team cannot play well when Malcolm Thomas is out, because the American was the team leader in rebounds. And Ivan Lazarev missed Friday game with Loko due to illness. Without him, Milutinov will have to play against Gafurov and Zverev, a lot depends on the defense against the Serbian bigman. If Samara can reduce Nikola actions and at the same time stop CSKA shooters, then the League newcomer will have a chance to win. After all, Samara has already shown that the team can become more dangerous when the game could be difficult. And Samara situation is really difficult: a few more losses in a row and the team will be out of the playoff zone, not mentioning the chances go get to the Top 6.
