Astana, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and St. Petersburg will host 4 regular season games on Sunday.
Astana (Astana) vs Samara (Samara)
Time: 15:00 (13:00 Moscow time)
Place: Kazakhstan, Astana, SC Velotrek
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
Astana: The Kazakh team hasn’t won since March 18. So the main objective will be to win the season-closing game at home. However, Astana can hardly be considered a favorite in this game. The team’s leading scorer Karvel Anderson has moved to Lokomotiv Kuban, and coach Fotis Takianos said after MBA game that he plans to let bench players play in the last few games.
Samara: The last game week became a great rehearsal before the key stage of the season. First, the Volga team didn’t leave a chance to Avtodor, and then beat Pari Nizhny Novgorod. The negative news is Ilya Platonov injury, which he suffered against MBA. The forward will miss several months and will return only next season. As Drazen Anzulovic noted, this should give the players extra motivation – every game until the end of the season they have to play for their injured teammate. The upcoming game means nothing – by beating Avtodor, Samara has guaranteed second place in Group B. The guests will probably want to extend winning streak to 3 games.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod) vs Avtodor (Saratov)
Time: 14:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Nizhny Novgorod, KRK Nagorny
Broadcast: Match! Igra, League website
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: In the last Volga derby of this season Pari NN will host Avtodor. The teams have different statuses: while Avtodor has already secured the play-in spot and looks quite convincing overall, for Nizhny this game will be the last in this season. The previous game against Samara ended bad: despite Evgenii Baburin achievement of scoring his 2000th point in the League, Zoran Lukic team lost with a 24-point difference. The 56 points scored is one of the Volga team worst results this season. In addition, Aleksandr Gankevich moved to CSKA on loan.
Avtodor: In the last round against Uralmash, the team had 20-point deficit by the halftime. However, Milenko Bogicevic team showed character and the ability to comeback. Avtodor missed the win only because of Kirill Pisklov winning shot. It’s interesting that Nizhny and Avtodor now have 10 wins in 20 games. However, in this regular season series, Avtodor won all 3 games. The Saratov team chances of taking the lead in the rivalry history are higher. Nizhny can’t expect the guests to rest their leaders. For Avtodor, a loss could cost them third place in the group if MBA defeats MINSK.
Time: 15:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Basket Hall Moscow
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
MBA: Vasily Karasev team was undoubtedly one of the main dsuprises of the second stage. With 9 straight wins, the Mosocs team unexpectedly jumped into play-in. And at this stage, MBA managed to beat the leaders of Group B Uralmash. In the previous game the Moscow team beat Astana, Karasev complaining about the lack of attitude of some players. Despite that, MBA is only gaining momentum to the start of the deciding games. The Moscow team hadn’t score a lot, but in recent games the team have 80-points or more. Vladislav Trushkin looks especially powerful – 18, 23 and 20 points in the last 3 games. By the way, Trushkin set his United League scoring-high in the January game against MINSK.
MINSK: After the first win of the season, MINSK lost the next 4 games. It won’t be easy for the Belarusian team to finish the season with 1 more win. First of all, MBA will probably want to extend the streak to the 10 games (it will be the longest winning streak of the season), and secondly – and this is the key factor – a win can help the hosts to surpass Avtodor and get 3rd place of Group B.
Zenit (St. Petersburg) vs PARMA (Perm)
Time: 16:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, St. Petersburg, KSC Arena
Broadcast: Match TV, VTB United League website
Zenit: For the St. Petersburg team, the final game of the regular season will be the moment of truth – if case of win, the team will move up to 2nd place in the standings. Over the last couple days, Zenit has announced Juwan Morgan and Josh Carlton signings. Both transfers will strengthen the frontcourt: Bojan Dubljevic suffered an injury that will keep him out of the early stages of the Playoffs, and Adrien Moerman contract was terminated. Although PARMA has been on a very good run lately, Zenit is still the toughest team to beat in Group A.
PARMA: By the spring stage of the regular season the Perm team made another big step – Evgeny Pashutin team won 5 wins in 9 games and guaranteed 5th place. As a result, PARMA will definitely face Lokomotiv Kuban in the first round of the Playoffs. Sunday game is the last opportunity for the Perm team to win in the season series versus Zenit, which PARMA has been losing dry so far (3 losses in 3 games). In the January game, the team lost only in overtime. In the other games, Zenit secured the result long before the end. Last round, PARMA convincingly rehabilitated in front of their fans for their home loss to Loko – in the battle for 5th place, the team beat Enisey setting a team’s season-high 106 points.
