Samara and Minsk will host 2 regular season games on Friday.
Samara (Samara) – Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar)
Time: 19:00 (18:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Samara, SCC Dvorets Sporta
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Samara: The Volga team has certain problems with the roster – due to injuries, the team lost James Ennis and Malcolm Thomas. But despite this in the last game just a week ago, the League newcomer won a difficult and extremely important game in Perm (83:81). The next day, Sergey Bazarevich team played a game in the Russian Cup, after which they returned home from a long tour. Samara did not play home for almost a month. The team had plenty of time to prepare for the game with Loko and one of the main questions is whether injured players had time to recover.
Lokomotiv Kuban: Since the end of October, Loko has lost only twice, and even then against UNICS and Zenit. Loko has already risen to the 6th place in the standings and catches up with Nizhny Novgorod. Zakhar Vedishchev returned after illness and went with the team to Samara. Loko spent more than a day to come to Samara, which slightly complicated the team’s shape. However, the weather conditions: in Krasnodar it is 3 degrees above, in Samara is 17 below. Nevertheless, the Krasnodar team has excellent chances to win, especially considering rivals problems. Rebounding can be desecive in this game: Martiuk-Willis duo is one of the most effective on rebounds with almost 14 rebounds per game.
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Location: Belarus, Minsk, Minsk-Arena
Broadcast: TV Start, Match Arena, League website
MINSK: On Friday, the Belarusian team will face a very difficult CSKA. The rivalry history is definitely not up for MINSK: 25 losses in 25 games. In the October game in Moscow, Rostislav Vergun team played almost equally in the first half, scoring 40 points by the halftime, but after MINSK lacked the experience and skills to continue. Since then, 3 new players have appeared in the team, Supreme Hannah and Jovan Sljivancanin have already made their debut in the League. The Belarusian team does not have a lot of chances to win, but there is no doubt that the team will show dedication in the home game at the Minsk Arena.
CSKA: On Sunday, the Army team updated the club high in wins at the start of the season beating UNICS. And there is no good reason that the Moscow team will finish this 14-game streak in Minsk. CSKA is the best team in the League, while MINSK closes the standings with 1-12. Stats are also the strength of the Army team – the team score almost 40 points more than their rivals. After a tough game in Kazan, CSKA coaching staff will probably cut leaders’ minutes, giving more playing time to the role players.
