On Monday, St. Petersburg and Zielona Gora will host 2 regular season games.
December 20th, Monday
Zenit (Russia) — Avtodor (Russia)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Saint Petersburg, Sibur Arena
Broadcast: Match! Strana, League website
Rivalry history: 19 games, Zenit — 15 wins, Avtodor – 4 wins
Zenit: Despite internal problems (there are still a lot of sick and injured players in the team), Zenit gradually began to get out of the mini-crisis that it got into at the beginning of December. The visit of the St. Petersburg team to France in the Euroleague became very successful: Xavi Pascual’s team beat both ASVEL and Monaco on the road, returning to the leading group with 10 wins. Taking into account the win over Nizhny, the St. Petersburg team has already won 3 games in a row, and if we take into account only the United League, then Zenit’s winning streak is already 5 games.
Avtodor: But the Saratov team’s series is even longer – already 6 wins in a row. At the same time, Avtodor tournament path cannot be called an easy one. Apart from the very first game in the winning streak, Avtodor won all its games with 5-7 points difference, and some – in really tense endings. Although Zenit and Avtodor rivalry history – St. Petersburg team has overwhelming advantage, this time Avtodor can be considered as the favorite of the game. Saratov’s FIBA Cup game scheduled for December 15 was canceled, so Avtodor had much more time to rest and recover than Zenit, which, moreover, plays with a very limited rotation.
Who to follow: Jordan Loyd became the best Zenit player in the French tour: in the game with ASVEL he had 15 points and 7 rebounds, and with Monaco he played even more effectively – 20 points, including 5 three-pointers out of 5. Most likely, in the game with Avtodor, Loyd will become the main offensive option of the hosts.
Zielona Gora (Poland) — CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Time: 19:00 (21:00 Moscow time)
Location: Poland, Zelena Góra, CRS Hala Zielona Góra
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Rivalry history: 6 games, CSKA — 5 wins, Zielona Gora – 1 win
Zielona Gora: The sensational February win over CSKA remains the 1st and only one for Zielona Gora in their rivalry history – and so far there are no options for changing this situation. If CSKA, despite all the difficulties with the composition and the game, continue to stay at the top of the standings, then ZG does not even pretend to get into the playoff zone at the moment. The Polish team with one win so far competes only with Tsmoki and Astana, which is in 10th place, but has two wins and two games in reserve.
CSKA: The Army team continues to show very unstable results. After a major loss to UNICS in the Euroleague, CSKA gathered and got the win against Alba in Berlin. One of the main creators of success was Johannes Voigtmann — 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. But Kenneth Faried no longer a part of the squad — the team’s management decided not to extend the two-month contract with Maniman. Nikola Milutinov and Joel Bolomboy came back after injuries, so Kenneth, who averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds per game, did not have a place in the Army team’s roster.
Who to follow: Iffe Lundberg is once again preparing to present an unpleasant surprise to his former team. In the September game, CSKA easily defeated Gura and Lundberg got a double-double in that game — 12 points and 10 assists.
