Ural Weekend

The Perm team has something to remember

“Parma always plays well at home, showing higher efficiency on their home court,” CSKA head coach Andreas Pistiolis stated. “At the same time, we need to focus on our game, act accordingly to our plan and show 100 percent dedication. When we don’t do this, the opponent is always ready to take advantage of it.”

You don’t have to go far for examples of this. It’s not even about CSKA’s only defeat so far in the current regular season. Last season, the Permians turned out to be one of the most inconvenient opponents for the team. For the first time in history, they won both home games against the Red-Blues, and lost the first Moscow game after missing a layup in the final seconds.

There are difficulties, there are prospects

The bright victories for the Ural team are in the recent past, albeit in the past. The current season is still going very difficult. Head coach Evgeny Pashutin has to rebuild the team after almost all of its key players left in the summer. For now, Parma's statistical leaders are center Royce Hamm, who moved from Astana (13.4 points, 8.7 rebounds), Garrett Nevels (11.7 points, 4.0 assists) with Alexander Zakharov (10.1 points, 4.3 rebounds) from neighboring Uralmash and playmaker Alex Hamilton, who played in Israel last season (9.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists). To date, Parma has won three out of seven games, two of which were against outsiders Astana and MBA-MAI, and has shown low three-point efficiency (29.6%). But the team has potential for growth. Including personnel. Firstly, it is worth keeping in mind the upcoming return to action of young CSKA forward Samson Ruzhentsev, who plays for Perm on loan and looked great in the preseason. Secondly, so far there are only three vacancies for foreign players on the roster, so the coaching staff has the right to count on reinforcements if they fail to find internal reserves.

As for the Muscovites, this week the coaching staff had the opportunity to practice with three full fives for the first time in a long time after Nikita Mikhailovskii recovered. Today the team traditionally worked at home in Krylatskoye and went to Perm on a regular Aeroflot flight.

Past matchups

Win/loss ratio: 17-3

VTB League games of the 2023-24 season:

10/15/2023. 1st round. CSKA – Parma: 77-76 (+1)
12/20/2023. 1st round. Parma – CSKA: 82-78 (-4)
02/11/2024. 2nd round. Parma – CSKA: 84-80 (-4)
03/16/2024. 2nd round. CSKA – Parma: 96-72 (+24)

Brief dossier

PARMA Perm

Founded: 2012
Colors: blue, white
Home court: UDS Molot (7,000 spectators)
CEO: Alexander Bashminov
Head coach: Evgeny Pashutin
Website: parmabasket.ru
Achievements: 2-time Russian Cup winner (2016, 19), SuperLeague 1 bronze medalist (2016)