On Monday, St. Petersburg and Tallinn will host 2 regular season games.
Zenit (Russia) — Astana (Kazakhstan)
Time: 19:00 (Moscow time)
Location: Sibur Arena, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Broadcast: Match TV, the League website
History of meetings: 13 games, Zenit — 9 wins, Astana – 4 wins
Zenit: The game against Astana is unlikely to be an easy one for Zenit— just two days before the game with the Kazakhstan team, Zenit will start in the Euroleague with a trip to Kazan. Zenit had already made its debut in the United League, defeating Kalev, but after this game it was time to say that the St. Petersburg team was being pursued by evil fate: as in the SuperCup final, lost a point guard in the first minutes. However, according to Xavi Pascual, Conner Frankamp’s injury is not as serious as Shabazz Napier’s, but he is unlikely to be able to play in the game against Astana. But Jordan Mickey showed himself phenomenally: Zenit rookie scored 27 points, with 5 from 6 from the 3-pt line, and made 10 rebounds, got the personal best for the season.
Astana: The era of Emil Rajkovic in Astana has come to an end — the Macedonian specialist, who was recognized as the United League best coach in 2019, went to Saratov to manage Avtodor. And Astana head coach post will be taken by Darko Russo. For the Serb, this game will be his debut in the United League. In general, in the offseason, Astana was far from the main newsmaker, but it was noted with several interesting signings. First of all, this is the guards duo Anthony Hickey and Jaylen Barford, who has already proved himself in pre-season games.
Who to follow: Dmitry Kulagin — one of the most resonant signings in the United League-2021 — has already started training with Zenit and could have already played with Kalev, but Xavi Pascual still did not release the Russian guard on the floor. However, due to the injuries of 2 guard already, the rotation in the backcourt of Zenit has seriously decreased. Therefore, there is a chance to finally see on the court one of the iconic Russian players who completely missed the 2020/21 season.
Kalev (Estonia) — Avtodor (Russia)
Time: 19:00 (Moscow time)
Location: Kalevi Spordihall, Tallinn, Estonia
Broadcast: TV Start, the League website
Games history: 14 games, Avtodor — 11 wins, Kalev – 3 wins
Kalev: Despite the bright game of rookie JeQuan Lewis (15 points and 7 rebounds), the first game in the current regular season for Tallinn turned out to be a lump — they lost to Zenit, scoring only 60 points. Of the rest of the Kalev players, no one else was able to cross the line of 10 points scored. Now the Estonian team offence will be tested by another serious rival – Avtodor. Usually, the duels of these rivals turn out to be very effective: on average, 170 points scored per game. However, do not forget that this offseason Avtodor was headed by Emil Rajkovic, who distinguished himself in Astana with a very great attention to the defense game.
Avtodor: Rajkovic faces a difficult stretch. In October, his new team will play with three Russian basketball grandees – Loko, Zenit and UNICS. It will be difficult to get one or two wins during this streak, but it is extremely important for Avtodor – after all, Rajkovic came to Saratov hoping to bring Avtodor to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. The main Saratov team signings this offseason can be considered Philip Scrubb, who is familiar to Russian fans from playing Zenit, as well as the athletic bigman from Darushshafaka Grant Jerrett.
What to watch: over the past 7 seasons, Avtodor has been famous for its reckless style of play: whoever coached the Saratov team, they were always highly productive, but they also missed a lot (the best result in defense was 84.6 points missed on average per game in the 2015/16 season). Often it was the problems in defense that prevented Avtodor from claiming something more than getting into the playoffs. Emil Rajkovic is called upon to change this trend, and already the first game of the season should become a trial for a new defense because they have practically no time to swing.
