Astana basketbal team will have a very busy schedule for the first month of the new year. One home game by another intermingles with games on a road, almost all of January our Gullivers will live by this intense schedule. As early as this weekend, on January 8  they meet  on the court with the Russian team «Nizhny Novgorod» in the frame of of  VTB United League Championship.
 
Today, Nizhny Novgorod occupies the 10th place in the standings of  VTB League. The team has a balanced roster of foreign players and Russian players. One of them, Ivan Strebkov, a team leader, is one of the most successful and spectacular players of «Nizhniy Novgorod». Basketball players of «Astana» are in a good shape for the first game of the year. Right after the Christmas holidays, the team has immediately started their practices.
 
The Head coach Ilias Papatheodorou is optimistic about the upcoming game:
 
- «First of all, Happy New Year, dear friends! We celebrate  the New Year with the first home game with the team of «Nizhny Novgorod». «Nizhny Novgorod» is a great team, which stands out for its effectivel attacks. In order to win this game we have to do our best, each player of the team must feel fully responsible for the result,» — the head coach commented.
 
We would like to inform you that the game will take place on  January8, at the court of the Republican cycle track «Saryarka». Beginning at 16.00 pm. Free admission.
 
You can watch the game online at our site as well as on «Kazsport» TV channel at 19.35 pm.

Astana won Russian basketball team Nizhniy Novgorod 93:84 (31:28, 17:15, 25:20, 20:21).

Home team dominated through the entire game, winning three quarters, moreover winning with a double-digit lead. Nizhniy Novgorod tried to catch up in the last quarter of the game, but inspired game of Ousman Krubally wiped away all the attempts of the guests to bounce back.  The last scored baskets by Anton Ponomarev the gap became unsuperable with a score 85:70  four minutes till the end of fourth quarter. After the win Astana became a possible contender for top five playoff seeds.

Top Scorers:

Astana: Rob Lowery (18), Rod Odom (15+5 reb), Ousman Krubally (14+8 reb), Rustam Murzagaliev (12), Ian Miller (10+5 reb)

Nizhny Novgorod: Ivan Strebkov (20+7 reb+8 ast+3 stl), Kenny Boynton (15+5reb), Maxim Grigoryev (12), Tomislav Zubcic (11), Siim-Sander Vene (10), Deandre Kane (10)
 
Astana head coach Ilias Papatheodorou:
– First of all, congratulations to everyone on the New Year’s holidays! This is an important win for us. Nizhny visited us after an excellent game against Zenit in the Eurocup. Nizhny is very efficient in offense. On other side we have not played for almost 20 days. In the second quarter, we found our game and at the end of the day were able to win.
 
Nizhny Novgorod head coach Arturs Stalbergs:
– Congratulations to Astana on a good offensive performance. Our opponent hit a lot of tough shots, but that’s not an excuse. We were living in a ivory castle after a win  over Zenit, even though it seemed we’d come back down to earth. But if you miss 10 free throws and Astana dominates on the glass, it  only indicates we were not as prepared as we should have been. We were not focused.
 
The next games of Astana are scheduled on January 11 and 12, when it hosts Kaspiy from Aktau in the frames of National League of Kazakhstan.