Kazan and Perm will host 2 regular season games on Saturday.
UNICS (Kazan) vs CSKA (Moscow)
Time: 14:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match TV, TV Start, League website
UNICS: In the season opener, the Kazan team lost to CSKA on the road, making just 1 three-pointer in 40 minutes. Since the last game, UNICS has picked up shape: Louis Labeyrie, Marcos Knight and Aleksandr Platunov have recovered from injuries and the team has a 4-game winning streak. The Kazan team also outperforms future opponent in steals and blocks, so UNICS will be ready to show good defense and take revenge for the first-round loss.
CSKA: The Moscow team winning streak continued in the Moscow Derby. After the win over MBA-MAI, CSKA retained leader status in the standings, while topping the League in field goal percentage (49.5%). To stay in first place, the Moscow team need to beat UNICS on the road. The stats of the last 2 games in Kazan favors CSKA, as Andreas Pistiolis has never been defeated there.
PARMA (Perm Region) vs Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod)
Time: 18:00 (16:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: Match! Igra, Start Triumph, League website.
PARMA: The Perm team continue to climb up the standings – after the sensational win over Loko in Krasnodar, Evgeny Pashutin team is close to the Top 5. In case of win in Nizhny Novgorod, the team can move to 5th place. The Perm team is behind future opponent in average scoring (77.4 points vs. 71.7), but that difference is offset by the home court factor. With the fans support, PARMA is scoring 85 points per game, which means the team will be able to give the Volga team a fight. Evgeny Pashutin team lost badly to Nizhny in the first round, but since then PARMA has become much more organized and stable, and also waited for Aleksandr Shashkov to return to the lineup.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Sergey Kozin team continues to deal with problems. The team’s current losing streak has already 4 games, and a loss against PARMA will push the team out of the Top 5. Nizhny Novgorod will travel to Perm with a special motivation to end the streak. Team stats indicate that Nizhny will have several keys to win – the Volga team looks better than the Perm team in shooting percentage. In addition, Pari NN has already managed to beat the Perm team this season (83:51).
