The home game of the basketball club «Astana» with «Zielona Gora» in the VTB United League was twice postponed during the season, and finally, the Poles arrived in the capital to meet with our guys in the return match. The meeting of the teams will take place on Thursday, April 22, starting at 21:00 Nur-Sultan time.
ATTENTION! — In connection with the restrictive measures introduced in the capital due to the coronavirus pandemic, the match will be held without spectators with empty stands.
«Zielona Gora» is a Polish professional men's basketball club from Zielona Gora, founded in 1946. This season, in addition to participating in the VTB United League, the team competes in the Polish Championship.
Achievements:
- Winner of the Polish Championship — 2012/2013, 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2019/2020
- Silver medalist of the Polish Championship — 2013/2014
- Bronze medalist of the Polish Championship — 2011/2012
- Polish Cup Winner — 2015, 2017
- Silver medalist of the Polish Cup — 2016, 2018
- Polish Super Cup Winner — 2015
The game with “Zielona Gora” will be the penultimate one this season in the VTB League for “Astana”, the first match with the Polish team that took place before the New Year, in December in Poland. Then the Poles achieved an impressive victory. After that, the Poles played 13 games. The following games after “Astana” “Zelena Gora” played on the road, having won difficult games with “PARMA” and “Avtodor”, having stepped only one point to UNICS and scoring another not easy victory with “Tsmoki-Minsk”. Then there was another victory over «Avtodor», now at home, and then an away victory over Kalev. On February 1, the game against CSKA in Poland took place, which ended in a historic and sensational victory for «Zielona Gora». But then they lost to «Nizhny Novgorod» at home but were able to beat «Khimki». In March, they were able to defeat “PARMA” at home and won big against “Yenisey”, but then they lost to “Kalev” and the “Khimki” team confident revenge. Only in three of these thirteen matches, the difference was more than ten points, while two of these games were won by «Zielona Gora».
Tournament position:
Despite a bad start to the season, four defeats in a row, now “Zielona Gora” is confidently in sixth place with thirteen wins and ten defeats. They have already made it to the playoffs and this is their last game in the regular season. “Zielona Gora” will no longer be able to rise higher, but this victory is important for them, as it will finally secure fourth place for them. Their closest pursuer “Khimki” is only one victory behind them, and if “Zelena Gora” yields to “Astana” and “Khimki” win their last game, then the Moscow team will bypass the Poles in the standings. “Astana” now has the twelfth place with five victories in 22 games, they will definitely not go down below, but there is still a chance to rise one line higher. And for this, it is necessary not only to win this match, but also the next one, as well as for “Enisey” to lose both of its remaining games.
Roster changes:
At the end of January,the Pole Marc el Ponitka left the team, who moved to “PARMA”. American Blake Reynolds at the end of February moved from the Polish team to the Romanian one, and the Dane Gabriel Lundberg, also at the end of February, was “lured away” by Moscow CSKA. On the other hand, six new players joined Zielona Gora's roster at once. Two Americans joined the Polish team at once. Experienced guard Skyler Brawlin has spent his entire career in Europe. He has experience in such teams as «Topstar Kangurus», «Giessen Forty Sixers», «Science City Jena» and «c. Oliver Wurzburg», as well as Danish “Horsens”, Austrian “Wells” and Swedish “Söderling Kings”, and this season he started in the Greek “Iraklis”. Another American guard Adam King, also has been spending his professional career only in Europe and before the Polish team played in the Italian “Roseto Sharks”, “Ordzinuovi”, “Orlandino” and “Ravenna”, in addition, there were French “Elan Chalon” and Turkish “Socar Petkim ”. Last and the beginning of this season, he spent in Greece, in the teams «PAOK» and «Ionikos». Greek defender Nikos Pappas has mainly played in the Greek teams — «Panellinios», «Colossos Rhoda», «PAOK», «Panionios» and «Panathinaikos», with whom he became the Greek champion and Greek Cup winner five times. Nikos also played in the Spanish “Bilbao” and “Real Madrid B”, and he started the season in the Israeli “Hapoel Jerusalem”. In addition, it is worth noting that Pappas became the champion and silver medalist in the European championships in both the U-18 and U-20 categories, and was also the silver medalist of the world in the U-19 category. Three more players joined the team with Polish citizenship, but if the experienced center Krzysztof Sulima played exclusively in Poland, and the young guard Nikodem Klotsek is just starting his career, then the forward Davil Brembli spent many seasons in Germany. And it's no wonder because he has dual German-Polish citizenship, and he was born in Germany, and at least he started his career in Poland with «Trefl Sopot», and then spent 7 seasons in Germany with «Medi Bayreutf», «Ratiopharm Ulm», «Eisbaren Bremerhaven», «Mittldeutcher» and «Crailsheim Merlins».
Rival leaders:
At the moment, the leaders of the team are Rolands Freimanis and Jeffrey Grosell. Also, Chris Richard and Janis Berzins are also stars of the team. In addition, Adam Smith fit in the team perfectly, although so far he has only played 2 matches in the VTB United League. In addition, the base of the Polish team includes Sisil Williams and Lukasz Kosharek, as well as Skyler Bowlin, Davil Brembli and Krzysztof Sulima, who have perfectly joined the team.
The match will take place on Thursday 22nd in Nur-Sultan at the arena of the Republican cycle track «Saryarka», beginning at 21:00 Nur-Sultan time. The online broadcast of the match will be available on our website in the
Match Center section, as well as live on the
QazSport TV channel.
Detailed information about the tournament, tournament tables, schedule, and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
