Saratov hosts «Astana»

20.01.2018, 09:00    Views: 499
Source: Press service
Author: Almira Shakhaeva
Today, on January 20, the capital's basketball club will hold an away game in the framework of the VTB United League championship against «Avtodor» from the city of Saratov.
  
Chronicle of past games:
Basketball club from Saratov has participated in the VTB United League since 2014. Prior to VTB, «Avtodor» successfully played in the Super League of Russia, where they became numerous prize-winners and champions of the tournament. As for the personal games «Astana» — «Avtodor», the teams met on the court 6 times, 4 of which were in favor of the Kazakh team.
 
Current situation:
Italian coach Andrea Masson has headed the team this season, but for family reasons, Masson left Saratov in November 2017. He was succeeded by the famous Russian expert Evgeny Pashutin. One of the leaders of the team is the American center Coty Clark, who gained 16 points per game, as well as recently signed forward Shakil McKissick.

Standings:
Basketball club «Avtodor» finds itself in a comfortable 6th  place, with the result of 5 wins and 5 defeats. The capital club occupies 11th place with the result of 3 wins and 9 defeats.
 
Commentary of the head coach of BC «Astana», Mikhail Karpenko:
- «Avtodor»  is a team which can easily be associated with strong midlevel VTB team, which always successfully achieve a goal for making a VTB playoff and a team with an ability to knock down heavy favorites from VTB elite.  Despite often changing coaches, «Avtodor» preserves a unique style — aggressive, fast basketball with a lot of fastbreak points.  With an arrival of a new, experienced coach Pashutin «Avtodo»r became more disciplined. Avtodor has a decent roster, and we must pay attention to their leaders, such as  Clarke, Mackissic, Robinson, and Klemenko.  Our main goals are to impose our game tempo to «Avtodor» and with use of an aggressive defense to stop transition offense by Saratov.  If we succeed in those goals we have all chances to win a match.          
 
Where, when, at what time?
Arena: DC Crystal
Time: 19.00 by the time of Astana (16.00 Moscow time)
Broadcast: VTB United League website, BC «Astana» website, «QazSport» TV channel


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