Pre-game breakdown
The Army Men came to Kazakhstan capital late night after the game in Krasnoyarsk and celebrated Nikita Kurbanov birthday with the cake in the hotel.
The team had a practice today at the cycling track together with Astana cyclists who didn’t use motor transport to keep it relatively quiet.
Mikhail Kulagin continues his post-injury rehab in Moscow. Joel Bolomboy is not on the roster yet as he is waiting to receive Russian passport.
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
We continue our road trip in Astana. The host team is completely new this year, with new players, head coach, philosophy. We will approach the game very seriously and we try to work on mistakes that we make in the previous game.
“Relativity” connections
Joel Bolomboy and Astana newcomer JJ O’Brien played for the Utah Jazz and Salt Lake City Stars in the 2016-17 season.
Past matchups
Win-loss record: 16-0
Games in 2017-18 season:
08-Oct-2017. Astana – CSKA: 72-92 (+20)
25-Dec-2017. CSKA – Astana: 79-63 (+16)
Short dossier
BC Astana (Kazakhstan)
Founded: 2000
Colors: yellow, blue
Home court: SC Velotrack/Saryarka (9,270).
President: Valery Tikhonenko
Head coach: Kostas Flevarakis
Website: pbcastana.kz
Trophy case: 6-time Kazakhstan champion (2012-15, 17, 18), 6-time Kazakhstan Cup winner (2011-14, 17, 18), FIBA Asia Champions Cup bronze winner (2017).
