10october
The Steel Grip of a Champion or Oktyabr’s Momentum?
In the marquee matchup of week 3 in VTB’s Regular Season CSKA Moscow will host Krasny Oktyabr from Volgograd.
Who:
2014/15 VTB United League Champions CSKA
Vs.
2014/15 Eurocup’s Last-32 participants Krasny Oktyabr
Where:
Russia, Moscow, USC CSKA (5000 seats)
When:
October 11th 2015, 13:00 (13:00 Moscow time)
Broadcast:
NTV+ (Russia), VTB United League’s web-site
Face to face:
CSKA and Krasny Oktyabr faced each other four times in VTB United League since 2013 and all four times CSKA celebrated wins. Nonetheless, one of Volgograd’s memorable achievements is the aggregate win in the 2014 Russian Cup quarterfinals (75:81 at home and 84:73 away).
The Intrigue:
Both of these teams defeated Georgian Vita on the road, Volgograd even set the team’s record for points difference (+43). Although none of that will matter on Sunday. CSKA are considered the heavy favorites, because they simply don’t make the same mistakes the other teams make. At the same time, they are unforgiving to any errors of their opponents, so to compete with CSKA a team must maintain sharp focus and execute at the high level for the whole duration of the ballgame. Many factors have to align perfectly for Oktyabr to stand a chance against the champions, but most of all they have to play with poise and take care of basketball.
The Question:
What will be the status of some of CSKA’s injured players and how will injuries influence the outcome? One thing Krasny Oktyabr has going for them is the pile of injuries on CSKA’s roster, which seems to be increasing: Joel Freeland, Viktor Khryapa, Cory Higgins (leg injury) and Vyacheslav Kravtsov (flu) all missed the game in Tbilisi.
The Duel:
Nando De Colo (CSKA) vs. Tony Mitchell (Krasny Oktyabr)
De Colo was one of the best players during the Eurobasket – 2015 and he’s still in an excellent shape. This was on fine display in the game against Vita as Nando led all scorers and handed out a number of assists. Such fine play by his counterpart’s status might be an additional motivational factor for Mitchell, who also proved that he’s one of the most dangerous scorers in the League right now. Tony is a strong all-around performer, but he’s especially lethal from behind the three-point line. The duel between these two vibrant scorers should give the spectators plenty of memorable moments and made shots with high degree of difficulty.
The Flashback:
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