St. Petersburg and Perm will host 2 regular season games on Sunday.
Zenit (St. Petersburg) vs Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar)
Time: 13:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, St. Petersburg, KSC Arena
Broadcast: Match TV, League website
Zenit: The end of the first stage was very disappointing for Zenit. A sensational loss to Nizhny and Enisey prevented Zenit from claiming a place in the Top 3. So win against Loko is critical for Zenit to prevent their nearest rivals from going ahead. At the same time, Loko has proved to be a block in the current season. The St. Petersburg team lost both games, including in October, when Loko was experiencing serious roster problems. When the Krasnodar team got the game back on track, Zenit lost by 20 points.
Lokomotiv Kuban: Despite the guests status, Loko is the favourite. This is evidenced by the results of the rivalry history and the recent games in general. During the winter stretch, the Krasnodar team won 12 of 14 games, defeated all of their main rivals (CSKA, UNICS and Zenit) and is serious about competing for at least second place. Loko is still a moody team that often causes problems for itself, only to overcome them heroically (as in the last game of the first stage against Runa, where Lokomotiv allowed the opponents to make a 16-point comeback). Vladislav Emchenko rightly noted that when Loko shows its basketball (fast-paced, with a lot of fast breaks), it’s hard to stop. So the St. Petersburg team will probably try to play with low pace, where Loko doesn’t always do well.
Time: 17:30 (15:30 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Perm, UDS Molot
Broadcast: Match! Igra, VTB United League website
PARMA: The classic rivalry between Perm and CSKA has taken on a new dimension this season. Although PARMA seemed to be inferior to the regular season leader in every aspect, both times in the first stage the Perm team put up a real fight against the Moscow team. And while in the first game CSKA got a 1-point win with great difficulty, in December PARMA worked on mistakes and had a historic win, beating CSKA for the first time in Molot. In general, Evgeny Pashutin team has been a real kryptonite for Top teams this season – only Zenit was able to defeat the Perm team twice. Although CSKA is statistically better (especially in offense – the Army team averages 10 points more), but the incredible energy of the home arena will support PARMA till the end.
CSKA: The Perm team can surprise CSKA. PARMA got more rebounds in both games of the first stage, for example. The Perm team leads the League in rebounding this season (38.3 per game). And winning rebounds also starts with defense, which prevents opponent from scoring second-chance points. PARMA is doing well too – the team is the 3rd in the League in defenseive rebounds, ahead of CSKA. So Emil Rajkovic will have a tough time with the hosts’ defensive structure. However, it’s hard to underestimate the Army team motivation. At the very least, the Moscow team will try to rehabilitate for the loss to UNICS in the last game of the first stage.
