Astana, Moscow and Yekaterinburg will host regular season games on Monday.
Astana (Astana) – Samara (Samara)
Time: 20:00 (17:00 Moscow time)
Place: Kazakhstan, Astana, Velotrek Saryarka
Broadcast: League website
Astana: After 2 consecutive road losses, the Kazakh team can take a little break – they have a 3-game home series. Although Oleg Kiselev team has some serious opponents (Samara and Runa are in the Top 7, and CSKA is in the lead), Astana is famous for being able to give any opponent a fight at home. On the road, Astana hasn’t looked like aweak team either – the team fought back until the final seconds and scored 92 points against Enisey. 2 Astana players set personal scoring records in this game: Adam Kunkel got 20 points and Carvel Anderson made 28.
Samara: Samara is facing a 3-game home series against extremely uncomfortable teams. We’ve already mentioned Astana’s reputation as a home team, Zenit is in the Top 3, and Enisey hasn’t lost at home since February 8 – the Siberian team winning streak in Krasnoyarsk is 9 games, including last season. Despite these factors, Samara is on the rise right now – the Volga team has already won 3 straight games. It’s interesting that in all these games Samara sharpshooters have never dropped below 40% of three-pointers, and accuracy was above 50% against Uralmash and Nizhny.
Uralmash (Yekaterinburg) – Enisey (Krasnoyarsk)
Time: 19:30 (17:30 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Yekaterinburg, DIVS.
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
Uralmash: In the last round Uralmash showed that the team’s character is fine. In the game against MBA, the Yeakterinburg team lost Octavius Ellis in the first quarter, who scored 6 points in 6 minutes and was clearly aiming for another performance. Despite this, Uralmash added a lot to their defense in the end and snatched a win. In Ellis’ absence, Nevels-Douglas-Nelson trio took over and scored 54 points. Whether Ellis will be able to participate in the game against Enisey has not been announced yet, but in any case, Uralmash showed that the team has a plan B in case they lose their leader. By the way, Milos Pavicevic team won the first game of the season in which they allowed more than 80 points.
Enisey: Although Xavier Rathan-Mayes didn’t show his usual super performance against Astana (21 points with an average of 28.1), the Krasnoyarsk team still took another home game in a heated shootout and continued to share the third-fourth places with Zenit. Now they face anotherroad test. The Siberian team has suffered all their 4 losses this season exactly on the road. On the other hand, Enisey also has road wins over teams that are no weaker than Uralmash: for example, Jovica Arsic team beat Runa in Moscow, and before that they defeated MBA. So Uralmash can’t be considered a favorite just because of the home status, especially considering that Ellis may not play against Enisey.
Runa (Moscow) – Zenit (St. Petersburg)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, DS Dynamo
Broadcast: Match! Igra, Start Triumph, League website
Runa: Erturul Erdogan team is in a bit of a decline, as the Vikings have suffered 3 straight losses for the first time since the start of the season. And if against CSKA the newcomer fought to the last, then in the games against Enisey and especially Loko the outcome was clear long before the end. Despite this, Runa has a chance against one of the leaders. Zenit situation is very difficult – a week ago, the St. Petersburg team defeated a similarly drained Nizhny with difficulty. Runa is a fast, athletic and well-rebounding team.
Zenit: After the game with Pari NN Javier Pascual noted that his team looked tired and did not show the usual pace. It’s not surprising: Zenit have been playing without leading players for a long time. At the time of the game with Nizhny (which suffers from the same problems), 5 players missed the game. Pascual had to use an ultra-short rotation. Although Zenit had a whole week to rest and recover, it is still unknown whether any of the injured will return for the game with Runa.
