Pre-game breakdown
The Army Men returned from Nizhny late at night and had just one practice to prepare for the next game.
Mikhail Kulagin continues his post-injury rehab.
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
We play our last game of the regular season against Astana, very ambitious team, that plays really well this year and it is still in the hunt for the better position in the playoff zone. Again, we are in very different situations: we just returned from the road trip, they had full 8 days to prepare. For us it will be important to find motivation and energy to try to win it.
“Relativity” connections
Joel Bolomboy and JJ O’Brien played for the Utah Jazz and Salt Lake City Stars in the 2016-17 season.
Past matchups
Win-loss record: 17-0
Games in 2017-18 season:
07-Oct-2018. Astana – CSKA: 61-86 (+25)
Short dossier
BC Astana (Nur-Sultan, 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).
