The last match between these opponents–in Krasnodar, on January 29–ended with a quite unexpected victory for Pari NN, 86:88. Playing with a 7-man rotation, their coach Sergei Kozin executed the final minutes in exemplary fashion.
In March, playing away, Lokomotiv got a bit of revenge – our 75:67 victory ended Nizhny’s chances of advancing directly to the playoffs, bypassing the play-in. But Krasnodar fans are likely eager to see their favorite team beat Pari NN live, not on TV.
But the game certainly won’t be easy. Nizhny has played one league game so far, and once again proved themselves a masters of clutch play: Kozin and his team defeated BETCITY-PARMA 73:69 at home on October 1. The hero of the clutch was Ilya Platonov, who transferred from Samara in the summer and is actually a product of Lokomotiv’s youth system. The forward hit two crucial 3-pointers and led his team in scoring this evening with 18 points.
Against BETCITY-PARMA, guard Alexander Khomenko posted the best plus-minus rating in his team (+14), thanks to 15 points and 9 opponent fouls. This is the CSKA alumnus’ 2nd season at Nizhny Novgorod, and he can certainly be considered one of the team’s leaders, both in stats and in spirit.
The most effective performance against Perm team came from another Nizhny Novgorod second-year player, center Ilya Karpenkov: his 20 KPI points came from, among other, 8 scored points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists. Meanwhile, his best performance in 5-on-5 basketball (let’s not forget, that Karpenkov is a silver medalist in 3-on-3 at Tokyo 2020 Olympics) remains the aforementioned January game in Krasnodar, when he scored 20+5+3.
All four of Pari NN’s new legionnaires were not so good in the first league game. Hunter Dean performed best of them, scoring 6 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. The 24-year-old, blonde-haired power forward arrived in Nizhny Novgorod from the Slovakian league, where he averaged 12.9 assists and 8.5 rebounds for Prievidza.
Point guard Isaiah Washington scored 6 points and made 4 assists against BETCITY-PARMA. Last season, he averaged 8.9 points and 3.0 assists per game for French side Nancy.
Forward Norbert Lukács is a member of the Hungarian national team. He spent the past 3 seasons with Szolnoki Olaj, where he won the 2024/25 championship, averaging 10.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists. Paris NN calls him “an experienced #4 with an excellent shot.”
Guard Shane Gatling also came to the VTB United League from the Hungarian team, Honved Budapest, where he posted impressive numbers of 17.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists. Once the 27-year-old American settles good on the banks of the Volga, he has a great chance of achieving similar numbers.
As we can see, the opponent is see, so what can be a crucial factor? Fan support, of course! If you haven’t bought a ticket for Sunday’s game yet, get one now. We need to keep showing our new players how great it is when Basket Hall is rooting for you, even in tough moments—it will definitely help them adapt faster and play to their full potential. And we all remember from the last playoffs how much the stands can add to the team. See you in the arena!