Week 3. Preview

The games of the third game week will be held on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Sunday. October 11th

CSKA (Russia) vs. Krasny Oktyabr (Russia)
Time: 13:00 (13:00 Moscow Time)
Location: Russia, Moscow, USC CSKA
Broadcast: NTV+ (Russia), VTB United League’s web-site
CSKA: Despite being depleted by injuries to Joel Freeland and Viktor Khryapa, missing Corey Higgins and Vyacheslav Kravtsov CSKA easily defeated Vita on the road. A game versus Oktyabr will be more challenging as it will indicate where the team is at right now.
Krasny Oktyabr: Despite taking a loss in St. Petersburg a team from Volgograd showed poise and a tough character. Their American players can be streaky scorers, especially Donnell Cooper. This guard leads the League in assists and is the key element of what happens on offense.

Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia) vs. Astana (Kazakhstan)
Time: 15:00 (15:00 Moscow Time)
Location: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: NTV+ (Russia), VTB United League’s web-site
Lokomotiv-Kuban: The team from Krasnodar didn’t enter the season in the best possible shape, as they look to add with each game. They will look to rehabilitate themselves in front of their fans and rebound from a loss they took in Czech Republic in their season opener.
Astana: They also didn’t have the best preseason, quite a few of their key players were involved in the Asian Championship which only ended last week. This is why the team was basically split in two during the whole season preparation process and only ran a few practices together. This should impact their ability to work as a cohesive unit on the floor.

Nizhny Novgorod (Russia) vs. Bisons (Finaland)
Time: 17:30 (17:30 Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Nizhny Novgorod, Unions’ Palace of Sports
Broadcast: Elisa Viihde (Finland), VTB United League’s web-site
Nizhny Novgorod: They will finally play in front of their home crowd after two tough road games to open the season. Eric Maynor’s injury is still an issue, but the team was able to somewhat adjust to his absence. The home team will rely on inspired play of Maksim Grigoriev, Kaspars Berzins, Semen Antonov, Yevgeny Baburin and Dmitry Khvostov.
Bisons: They will try and analyze the mistakes they made on defense in a game against Khimki, allowing a spine-breaking 18:0 run in the end of the first half. That can’t happen if they want to win in VTB League.

Avtodor (Russia) vs. Kalev (Estonia)
Time: 18:00 (18:00 Moscow time)
Место: Russia, Saratov, Crystall Sports Palace
Broadcast: SA Tallinna Televisioon (Estonia), VTB United League’s web-site
Avtodor: Saratov gave their fan base plenty of reasons for optimism with an even contest against title favorites Khimki and an overtime win over Nizhny Novgorod. Their leaders play in tune with each other and Malcolm Armstead looked like an early MVP candidate in the first couple of games. The combination of many factors makes Avtodor the favorites to win.
Kalev: Slowly but surely Estonians are finding their game. Right now they look to Ronaldas Freimanis, Josh Boone and Brandis Raley-Ross to carry them to victories. If these players will be on their game we might see an upset in Saratov.

UNICS (Russia) vs. Nymburk (Czech Republic)
Time: 18:00 (18:00 Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: TV Nova Sport (Czech Republic), VTB United League’s web-site
UNICS: An upset loss they took at the hands of Tsmoki-Minsk should have had a sobering effect on Kazan’s powerhouse. Given the strength of the roster on paper, their fans might not forgive a slip-up for a second week in a row.
Nymburk: Michael Dickson had been explosive and carried his team to two straight wins at home. This time he will try to repeat his heroics in an opponent’s GYM, which promises to be a harder task. Nymburk should have worked on providing an American with some needed support from others.

Zenit (Russia) vs. VEF (Latvia)
Time: 18:00 (18:00 Moscow time)
Location: Russia, St. Petersburg, Sibur Arena
Broadcast: NTV+ (Russia), VTB United League’s web-site
Zenit: They’ve already beaten two squads that were a competition to them in the standings and will now try to go three for three. Ryan Toolson and Janis Timma, who will play in his home country, make their offense tick like a Swiss watch. A game versus VEF will become a challenging test for Vasily Karasev’s team, as they will try to stay undefeated.
VEF: They are far from their peak form and at times look sporadic on the floor. Having managed to become better with each contest, VEF will look to gain some confidence and put up a fight.

Monday, October 12th

Khimki (Russia) vs. Vita (Georgia)
Time: 17:30 (17:30 Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Khimki, BCMO sports complex
Broadcast: NTV+ (Russia), VTB United League’s web-site
Khimki: Will look to build on the win they had the last week and continue to work on the team’s chemistry and communication. Vita is a perfect opponent for them at this time in the season.
Vita: As any team that makes a debut in VTB United League they are struggling right now, but just as Bisons did last year, we look for Vita to pull out an upset or two in 2015/2016. Perhaps they will have a break-out game in Khimki, but regardless of the outcome the game against such a high class opponent will prove to be a valuable experience for the Georgian basketball club.

Tuesday. October 13th

Enisey (Russia) vs. Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus)
Time: 19:10 (15:10 Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Ivan Yarygin Palace of Sports
Broadcast: NTV+ (Russia), Belarus 2 (Belarus), VTB United League’s web-site
Enisey: We’ve already seen two different versions of this team, against Zenit they showed efficiency on offense, in a game against Riga they were sound defensively. Either way we like their chances in this game, the great play of David Kennedy and a deeper bench make them the favorites.
Tsmoki-Minsk: Krasnoyarsk is the city where Igor Grischuk got his first win as a Tsmoki’s head coach, and he wouldn’t mind reliving that feeling. His squad is in good shape to start the season. Their keys to success are teamwork, their attitude and willingness to fight until the final buzzer.