Will it be different?

Problems not only in the difference

The Nizhny Novgorod team is having a hard time. Surely, they would be happy to put up more resistance, but personnel problems are practically unsolvable. Sergei Kozin's team initially could not count on the injured Dmitry Khvostov and Igor Volkhin, and in the second half of the previous game they also did without Nemanja Djurisic. As the head coach of Pari NN later noted, the Serbian "big man" initially played despite the injury, but the injury put him out of action, and his prospects remain unknown.

Under these conditions, Alex Hamilton (18.0 points, 65% from the field) and Ilya Karpenkov (13.0 points, 66.7% of two-pointers) show the highest efficiency in the series among the opponents. Alexander Chadov also plays an important role, scoring 9.0 points on 57.1% of three-pointers.

It was a day off

After a couple of successful games, the team was given a well-deserved day off. However, many were not able to completely distract themselves from basketball: coaches Andreas Pistiolis, Giannis Gapkiadis, Pavel Gerasimov, Sergei Tkachenko and Alexander Dubovitsky, plus Semen Antonov, Anton Astapkovich and Ivan Ukhov spent part of the day visiting Lavochkin str, where they watched CSKA-2's victory over Khimki in the decisive game of the SuperLeague semifinals.

Today, the team worked at the main arena in Krylatskoye without the ill Vladimir Karpenko, who also missed the start of the series, went to Sheremetyevo and flew to Nizhny Novgorod on a regular Aeroflot flight.

"We expect the next meeting to be different, because Pari NN always plays much better at home," notes CSKA head coach Andreas Pistiolis. "In addition, this is the playoffs, and the difference in previous games does not matter at all. We need to take the matter seriously and do our job."

Past matchups

Win-loss record: 50-5

2024-25 VTB League regular season games:

05-Oct-2024. Pari NN – CSKA: 77-75 (-2)
02-Nov-2024. CSKA – Pari NN: 91-65 (+26)
09-Feb-2025. Pari NN – CSKA: 86-94 (+8)
09-Apr-2025. CSKA – Pari NN: 109-82 (+27)
23-Apr-2025. CSKA – Pari NN: 114-83 (+31)
25-Apr-2025. CSKA – Pari NN: 106-65 (+41)

Brief dossier

BC Pari Nizhny Novgorod

Founded: 2000
Colors: white, black
Homecourt: Labor Unions Palace of Sports (5,000)
President: Sergey Panov
Head coach: Sergei Kozin
Website: www.nn-basket.ru
Accomplishments: Russian Cup winner (2023), VTB United League runner-ups (2014), Russian Championship runner-up (2014), Superleague B champion (2010), Russian Cup finalists (2011)