On Sunday, Saratov and Zielona Gora will host 2 regular season games.
Sunday, January 23
Avtodor (Russia) — Zenit (Russia)
Time: 16:00 (15:00 Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Saratov, LDS Kristall
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Rivalry history: 20 games, Zenit — 15 wins, Avtodor – 5 wins
Avtodor: The win over Zenit helped the Saratov team to extend the winning streak. In 2021, Emil Rajkovikj’s squad finished at the top of the standings. But the New Year began for Avtodor not so well: the Saratov team lost to CSKA without a chance. After the game, Rajkovikj complained about the long pause that knocked Avtodor out of the game rhythm. This time the situation at Avtodor is better — although the game with PARMA, which was supposed to take place on January 16, was canceled, and the team managed to play twice in the FIBA Europe Cup and won both times. Now, with a 3-0 record, they lead their group in this European tour.
Zenit: For the St. Petersburg team, the win in Sunday’s game is important not only as a revenge for the December loss, but also for the position in the League. If Zienola Gora can defeat UNICS, Zenit will equal with the Kazan team in number of wins. The St. Petersburg team schedule is not the simple one: if Avtodor met with London Lions and Bakhchesehir in recent games, then Zenit faced CSKA and Monaco in the Euroleague. Having defeated the Army team, the obviously tired Zenit could not restrain the pressure of another powerful team and lost in France. Interestingly, now all three Russian teams in the Euroleague have the same amount of wins — 12.
Who to follow: Billy Baron, who played a great game with CSKA (20 points), did not look well with Monaco — he spent only 11 minutes on the floor and during this time managed to shot 7 shots, including 5 from behind the arc. In the game with Avtodor, Baron will try to rehabilitate not only for this game.
Zielona Gora (Poland) — UNICS (Russia)
Time: 19:00 (21:00 Moscow time)
Location: Poland, Zielona Góra, CRS Hala Zielona Góra
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Rivalry history: 9 games, UNICS — 8 wins, Zielona Gora – 1 win
Zielona Gora: If Zenit and Avtodor are out of the rhythm of the game, then with even greater reason it can be said about Zelena Guru — the Poles held their last match in the framework of the United League on December 20, that is, more than a month ago! Due to various adjustments in the schedule for the Poles, the last six matches have become a real marathon for survival: taking into account the game against UNICS, Zelena Gura met exclusively with teams from the top 6. Over the past month, the Polish team also suffered personnel losses — for example, this season’s debutant Branden Fraser, who scored 9.2 points and 3.7 assists per match, went to play in Italy. But Zelena Gura announced the transfer of two newcomers Paul Jackson and Usman Drame.
UNICS: On Thursday, Kazan got even in full for the ambiguous December defeat by Barcelona — this time the UNICS defense did not give failures, limiting the formidable Catalan attack to 64 points scored. The main heroes of the match were two Browns: Lorenzo added 8 assists to 22 points, and John, having played just as productively in attack (20 points), literally destroyed the opponent in defense, making 7 interceptions – a season record in the Euroleague. Despite the fatigue after the European battles, UNICS in this pair looks like an obvious favorite, which is clearly aimed at becoming the first team this season to win 10 victories.
What to follow: At the end of December, UNICS got 2 very unusual games, let Barcelona and Zenit score 111 and 97 points. After that, the Kazan team significantly increased in defense and did not miss more than 71 points in January. Due to the Zielona Gora low performance (3rd place from the end in the League in points), UNICS may try to update its defensive record of the season — 54 points from Kalev.
