BC Samara - CSKA Moscow predictions and free betting tips [07/01/2024]

In the second match of the regular VTB United League game day, Samara will face off against the Moscow PBC CSKA.

Samara

This summer, the Samara team worked on the errors in last year's selection, taking strong foreign players in their prime (Robinson, Thompson, Dalton, Rebich), and also created a Russian backbone of players who will really influence the game and get significant time on the court (Platonov, Kulagin, Gudumak).
Samara started the season with a confident victory over the former club of its new head coach Dražen Anzulovic - Yenisei. Having beaten the opponent with a difference of "20", the Samara team, albeit temporarily, took second place in the tournament table after the first round. Then, the Samara team suffered two consecutive defeats from St. Petersburg's Zenit (76:84) and the season's newcomer - Moscow's Runa (85:74). However, in mid-October, Samara scored three straight victories over MBA (65:77), Minsk (78:91) and UNICS (104:93).

However, in the last October match, Lokomotiv-Kuban broke this streak (83:90). In addition, Samara unexpectedly lost to Avtodor (74:86) and, expectedly, CSKA (94:76) in the next games. After these matches, Samara left the top six. Samara managed to return there after they scored three victories, defeating "PARI-NN" (85:79), Uralmash (78:86) and Parma (85:83). The team began December with defeats from Yenisei (103:82) and Zenit (96:58). However, in the following games, Samara beat Runa (93:78), Minsk (79:68) and MBA (76:65). However, the team could not finish the year victoriously and in the Volga derby they lost to the reigning league champion - Kazan's UNICS (81:61)

CSKA Moscow

The departure of many legionnaires after the 2021-2022 season was a big hit for all VTB United League clubs, but it most painfully reflected on CSKA. The last time the army team was out of the top three was in the early 21st century. Despite unsatisfactory results, Emil Rajkovic got a second season at the club. Alexey Shved and Nikola Milutinov left the team. Notable acquisitions include former Turkish Fenerbahce player Tony Jekiri, Nikita Mikhailovsky and Melo Trimble. In the first match of the season, the army team beat Moscow's MBA (76:72) with great difficulty. The most productive player in the composition of the winners was Tony Jekiri, who scored 18 points.

In the next five matches, the army team scored 8 victories, defeating in turn Yenisei (73:64), Zenit (76:80), Parma (77:76), Avtodor (73:85), Minsk (112:84), Astana (96:66), Uralmash (73:86) and Samara (94:76). At the beginning of the championship, it can be confidently said that the team of Emil Rajkovic is the most stable team of the championship start. The only slip-up by the army men was made in the match against the finalist of last season Krasnodar BC Lokomotiv-Kuban (88:91).
After that, the army men regained their cruising speed and scored five victories in a row over the league newcomer Runa (74:80), Kazan's UNICS (66:79), Pari-NN (72:74), Astana (78:112), Yenisei (75:80), Zenit (104:89) and Avtodor (96:66). Only Perm's "Parma" managed to spoil the end of 2023 (82:78).

Head-to-Head

In the last face-to-face meeting, the army men won a hard-fought victory (94:76).

Match prediction

The army men stumbled in Perm, at the end of 2023, but are still the league leader and the main contender for the title. I think the visitors will start this calendar year with a confident victory over the league average, defeating teams weaker or equal to it in strength but consistently losing to all the grands this season. A negative handicap on CSKA is for me the optimal option for a bet on this game.