Three regular season games will take place on Thursday.
MINSK (Minsk, Belarus) vs Samara (Samara, Russia)
Time: 19:00 (Msocow time)
Place: Belarus, Minsk, Falcon Club
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
MINSK: Of all the teams that have played more than one game, only MINSK hasn’t experience winning yet, losing three times. The last game was especially bad: MINSK lost to UNICS with a record 48 points difference, even though the team won the first quarter. Rostislav Vergun team played in front of their own fans, the Belarusian team will probably want to rehabilitate for two big home losses. The Minsk team has a chance to do so, if we remember the hard road game in Krasnoyarsk.
Samara: Although after the trip to Belarus capital, Samara has a 3-game home winning streak, their schedule is not easy: in the next game the team will face UNICS, Loko and Avtodor. So the game with MINSK, which has had a poor start to the season, is a good opportunity to gain a foothold at the top of the standings. Last season the schedule brought the Minsk team and Samara four times, and each time the Volga team won. Now their chances look more favourable, especially after a confident win over MBA last week.
UNICS (Kazan, Russia) vs. Uralmash (Ekaterinburg, Russia)
Time: 19:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match! Igra, League website
UNICS: The game with MINSK was a training session for the Kazanteam, but it was exactly the kind of game that was optimal for UNICS to regain its game same after a long break. As team coach Velimir Perasovic said: “After a long break without basketball, we definitely needed this game to see where we are”. The difference in class between the teams is too great. Uralmash may prove to be a tough for UNICS, but the Kazan team loss will still look like a sensation, even though some of their key players (like Louis Labeyrie) are still far from best shape.
Uralmash: The Yekaterinburg team is still showing unusual results – beating the favourites and losing to teams that are on the same level as Uralmash. In the last round the team defeated Lokomotiv Kuban, which is considered a favourite – the Krasnodar team has enough problems at the start of the season. In any case, it’s already obvious that Milos Pavicevic team won’t give up so easily. Th team has even considered dropping Chad Brown, who has not proven himself, and after Octavius Ellis’ terrific debut (24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks against Loko), the need for another American center has clearly disappeared.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) vs. Astana (Astana, Kazakhstan)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Nizhny Novgorod, KRK Nagornyy.
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Zoran Lukic team remains one of three teams in the League with zero losses. It’s not to say that Nizhny Novgorod is somehow dominating opponents (except for MINSK) – the Volga team simply does a little more of what they need to do to win each game. The defence worked perfectly against PARMA, Bryon Allen let the team to win versus Runa. In general, Pari NN newcomers look great – Allen leads the team in scoring, Glenn Causey is gradually finding his game, and Andrey Vorontsevich needed to come up with an individual award like “Most Valuable Veteran of the Season” (a double-double in the game against Runa and a Team of the Round speak for themselves).
Astana: Since Astana has played only one game since the beginning of the season, it’s too early to talk about any trends in the team’s game and its shape. In the game against Zenit, Oleg Kiselev team looked energetic, and the former St. Petersburg team player Royce Hamm, who has been entrusted with a leading role in the new team, had his best game in the League with 20 points and 7 rebounds. However, Nizhny is a conspiratorial opponent for Astana. The Kazakh team has not been able to beat the Volga team since January 2017 – even in their best season, when Emil Rajkovic was named United League Coach of the Year, they never reached that barrier. In 21 rivalry games, Nizhny won 18.
