Samara and Kazan will host 2 regular season games on Wednesday.
Samara (Russia) – Astana (Kazakhstan)
Time: 19:00 (18:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Samara, SCC Dvorets Sporta
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Samara: After a good ending of the first stage with 3 wins in 4 games, the Volga team stopped. The League newcomer lost to Avtodor and PARMA-PARI, and beat MINSK in overtime with difficulties. Nevertheless, Samara is at the 2nd place in the Group B and seriously claims for the playoffs. Sergey Bazarevich team need to stop Astana leaders and do not let them feel their game as it was in Minsk last week.
Astana: The Kazakh team will play their first game in 2 weeks. But Astana played in Kazakh Cup and won it. Now, Oleg Kiselev team is back for the League playoffs battle. But Astana chances are not huge – at the remaining time, the team need to get 5 more wins than Avtodor and Samara. So the Kazakh team is going to Samara with a motivation to win and got away from MINSK, which showed good basketball in last games. Serious hopes for the game with Samara will certainly be focused on Michael Myers, who has an advantage in size over all Samara frontcourt.
Time: 20:00 (20:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: TV Start, Match TV, League website
UNICS: The Kazan team is hosting CSKA. In the previous season, UNICS beat the Army team twice, but this year Velimir Perasovic team could not get the win. And if UNICS still wants to take the first place in the standings, it is important to beat CSKA at home now. Jalen Reynolds returned after 3 missed games. But it is important for the Kazan team not only to show their offensive maximum, but also to stop the opponents offense: to destroy Shved and Milutinov connection, not to let the guests shooters to make easy shots and minimise turnovers.
CSKA: The Army team had a record winning streak with 24 wins in a row. The streak ended against Zenit at home and the team left no chance to Loko on the road. Now Emil Rajkovic team is going to Kazan with everyone on the roster (but without Semen Antonov) and intends to strengthen the standings place. It is worth noting that in case of beating UNICS, CSKA actually guarantees the regular season first place. In this game, the 2 best teams of the season will play in Kazan, and its result will certainly be determined by the details – therefore, CSKA needs to be concentrated till the end.
