Perm and Samara will host the regular season games on Sunday.
PARMA-PARI (Perm) – UNICS (Kazan)
Time: 17:00 (15:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: TV Start, Match! Igra, League website
PARMA-PARI: Teams have to solve various tasks in Perm. If UNICS is currently thinking about how to get CSKA, then PARMA-PARI continues to chase Loko. The Perm team has chances, but for this, PARMA need to beat UNICS. It will be difficult to do, because the only team that has won the UNICS this season is CSKA. In addition, the last time PARMA-PARI beat the Kazan team was more than 4 years ago. However, the Perm team knows how to surprise. Moreover, now there is a new hero in it: instead of Bryon Allen, Isaiah Reese came and he already made a bright debut – 19 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in Saratov. But to beat UNICS, the team need dedication and maximum concentration. And the home crowd will help players – more than 6 thousand tickets have already been sold for the game in Molot.
UNICS: The New Year’s break had a negative impact on Velimir Perasovic team playing shape – the team beat MBA with great difficulty on Wednesday at home. Nevertheless, UNICS goes to Perm as a clear favorite. In the first round game in November, the Kazan team won quite confidently, easily scoring 93 points. And if 2 months ago Daryl Macon was just starting to get in shape after an injury, now the guard leads the best scorers list with 18.2 points per game. And the day before Andrey Vorontsevich returned, which makes the Kazan team rotation even wider. UNICS will, it the team will deal with opponent defense and stop PARMA–PARI leaders.
Samara (Samara) – Avtodor (Saratov)
Time: 18:00 (17:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Samara, SCC Dvorets Sporta
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Samara: Both teams have already lost chances getting into the Top 6 following the results of the first stage of the regular season. Nevertheless, the battle for the playoffs is still ongoing and therefore this Volga Derby is of great importance for both Samara and Avtodor. On Wednesday, Samara finally returned to the winning after 4 losses in a row, beating Astana on the road. The win was confident (99:51), which certainly increased Sergey Bazarevich team mood. What is important, after the New Year’s changes in the roster, the bench players managed to prove themselves: Vladimir Pichkurov came out at the start, Maxim Sheleketo, Yuri Umrikhin and Maksim Barashkov got decent playing minutes. In the last game with Avtodor, Anton Kardanakhishvili became the best player, scoring 23 points, but Samara lost in the very end. This time, everyone will also decide the details, so it is important for the players to reduce the number of mistakes to a minimum.
Avtodor: Last week, the Saratov team took the home loss from PARMA-PARI in overtime, although had every chance to win. Now Avtodor simply needs to win in Samara, otherwise the team risks falling behind the main competitors in the battle for playoffs. According to stats, the Saratov team is slightly better than their opponents. The biggest problem is the turnovers – 15.7 per game. By eliminating unnecessary mistakes in passing and moving the ball, Darko Russo team will be able to win. Evgeniy Minchenko’s return to Samara is a separate story: Avtodor center played 3 seasons in the Super League for this team.
