Monday, January 31
Zielona Gora (Poland) — Astana (Kazakhstan)
Time: 18:00 (20:00 Moscow time)
Location: Poland, Zelena Góra, CRS Hala Zielona Góra
Broadcast: League website
Rivalry history: 7 games, Astana — 6 wins, Zielona Gora – 1 win
Zielona Gora: Both teams approached the game with a long series of losses. The Polish team have an unsuccessful 6-games streak, Astana has 5. In the last round, Zielona Gora was very close to breaking it, and beating one of the leaders of the season — UNICS. During the game, Oliver Vidin’s team led by 19 points, but in the 2nd half they still could not hold UNICS’ comeback. Even Dragan Apic performance, who made a double-double for the first time this season, scoring 20 + 11 in 27 minutes, did not help. By the way, in the last 4 games Apic has already crossed the mark of 20 points scored for 3 times.
Astana: Most of Astana’s January games have been postponed. Therefore, there was an almost 1,5 month pause in the schedule — Astana held its last game in the United League on December 19. This really affected Darko Russo’s squad, but Astana’s opponents is in a same place: in January, Gora played only 1 game in the United League. Due to the large number of postponed games, it is too early to talk about the team’s tournament prospects. For example, Astana has 3 games in reserve compared to Enisey (8th place). However, Darko Russo’s team needs to pick up its 3rd win of the season right now, because in February Astana will be playing with Loko, CSKA and UNICS.
Who to follow: Anthony Hickey and Jaylen Barford duo was unstoppabl in the winning game versus Zielona Gora in IOctober: they scored 48 points (24 each), 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals. Interestingly, only Anthony Hickey was selected for the United League All-Star Game, so Jaylen Barford, who is still the League’s most resultative player with 23 points per game, has additional motivation to show that he also deserved a place on the World Stars roster.
