The Presidential Basketball Club «Astana» will complete the first round of the VTB United League regular season with an away match against the Russian «PARMA», which will take place on Sunday, January 12.​

«PARMA» - is a Russian professional men's basketball club from the Perm Territory, founded in 2012. This season, in addition to playing in the VTB United League, the team had participated in the Russian Cup, but ended the fight right before the New Year, losing in the quarterfinal series of games.

Achievements:

• Russian Cup Winner 2015/2016, 2018/2019
• Bronze medalist of the Russian Cup 2016/2017
• Super League bronze medalist 2015/2016

Head coach:

In the 2019/2020 season, the Lithuanian coach Kazys Maksvytis the coaching staff of the team from Perm. Last season, for the second consecutive year, the team was led by the Latvian Nikolai Mazurs, though he was not with the team until the end of the season and in February 2019 he was replaced by assistant coach Vyacheslav Shushakov, who is also on the coaching staff of the Perm team this season. At the start of his career, the current coach had led such Lithuanian teams as “Aisčiai” and “Sakalai”. Then there were three seasons in “Neptune”, with whom Kazys played in VTB United League in the seasons 2012/2013 and 2013/2014. Also in those seasons, he became the bronze and silver medalist of the Lithuanian Championship. From 2015 to 2017, Maskvitis was the head of another Lithuanian club, «Lietkabelis,» with which he nearly won the Lithuanian championship again, taking another silver. Well, the past two seasons, he again spent in “Neptune” and added to his achievements the bronze medal of the Lithuanian Championship. In the summer of 2019, the Lithuanian was on a “business trip” to the United States, where he reached the finals of the NBA Summer League as part of the «Minnesota Timberwolves» coaching staff. But the main achievements of Kazys Maskvytis are with the Youth National Teams of Lithuania. He won with his teams the European Championship three times in the age categories U-16, U-18, and U-20, and with the U-20 team in 2011 he won the world title. It is also worth noting that Kazys Maskvytis refused to head the Lithuanian Men's Team in favor of working with «Parma».



Team roster:

In the summer, the team has undergone many changes. By tradition, we start with the foreign players. The main loss was the American imports — forwards Rashard Kelly and Tre Maclean, as well as a guard Ken Brown, who was the most effective in the team. In addition, “Parma” had three more American players, but they all left the team during the season. However, if Tyler Larson had left in January, then Cody Justice and Michael Humphrey left the team in early March. Also, in the off-season, the Latvian guard, Janis Blooms, known to fans of “Astana”, left the team. Among the Russian players, «PARMA» did not renew the contract with all the centers: the most experienced Grigory Shukhovtsov, Ivan Lazarev, who moved from Nizhny Novgorod, and Alexander Vinnik. The young forward Sergey Tkachenko was not declared to the team yet. And here is one of the key players of last season, Lithuanian guard Eigirdas Zhukauskas, who had previously played in clubs in Lithuania and France, extended the contract with “Parma” for the second season. Of the Russian players in the off-season, five prolonged their contracts with the team. The old-timers of “PARMA” are forwards Nikolay Zhmako, for whom this season is the 7th in a row as a part of the team, and Konstantin Bulanov is spending his 6th season at “PARMA”. Young guard Gleb Sheiko, Alexander Platunov, and Vadim Bondarenko are wards of the club from the Perm region.

Three American players joined the team in the off-season, but two of them — center Arnett Moultry and defender Anthony Carr, did not stay in the Perm team, and by the end of November, «PARMA» terminated their contracts. But Lorenzo Williams entrenched in the team. The American guard has had a rather serious career in Europe: Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania, and on his account he has the champion titles of Slovakia and Latvia. In mid-December, «PARMA» announced the signing of a contract with American guard Robert Johnson, who spent the last season in the NBA Development League as part of «Wisconsin Heard», which is a Milwaukee Bucks farm team, and spent half of this season in the Polish «Dąbrowa Górnicza» Also, the Lithuanian Adas Yushkevichius, who began his career in «Zhalgiris» system, became a newcomer to the team. After playing almost 10 seasons in various clubs in Lithuania, having managed to become a champion with «Zalgiris» and the winner of the Cup with «Lietuvos Rytas», he was able to take part in the championships of Spain, Turkey, and France. Adas is the winner of the U-20 European Championship silver medal as part of the Lithuanian National Team. Another newcomer from the Baltic was the Latvian guard Mareks Mejeris, who played in Latvia and Spain, and except for a small “sortie” to France, spent the last 5 seasons at «VEF» club in Riga, with whom he became the champion three times.

Perhaps the most high-profile Russian acquisitions were center Artem Zabelin and guard Maxim Grigoryev. Zabelin managed to play for CSKA, «Lokomotiv-Kuban», «Spartak-Primorye», «Krasnye Krylia» and «Dynamo» from Petersburg, and he began his career in 2003 as part of «Avtodor» and spent the last 4 seasons in «Saratov». Artem has won Euroleague gold and bronze, VTB United League gold, three Russian championship titles, and Russian Cup. From the beginning of his career, Grigoryev has spent 6 seasons in the «Lokomotiv-Kuban» team, and the last four played for «Nizhny Novgorod». Of the achievements of Maxim Grigoriev, EuroCup gold, VTB Challenge Cup and VTB United League silver, as well as twice in the Russian Cup and VTB United League bronze and twice in the Russian Championship. In addition, he is the champion of the Universiade and was awarded the title of the best young Russian player in the VTB United League twice. In the summer, three more young shooting guards Yegor Chernyshev, Yegor Melnikov and Kirill Budin were announced for the team, who mainly have defended the colors of the club in the VTB Youth League. Already in the course of the season, the team was replenished with the silver medalist of the Russian Cup and the double bronze medalist of the VTB United League and the Championship of Russia, forward Yevgeny Valiev, who, apart from «Khimki», played for «Zenit», «Triumph» and «Ural Great». And also one more player from «Khimki», a young guard Timofey Yakushin moved to «Parma».



Leaders of rivals: the most efficient and most effective player according to the statistics in “Parma” is Arnett Moultrie, but he has left the team. At the moment, the main leaders of the team are a trio of Baltic players- Adas Yushkevichius, Mareks Mejeris, and Eigirdas Zukauskas. American Lorenzo Williams and Russians Artyom Zabelin and Nikolai Zhmako often come out at the start. Maxim Grigoriev never entered the starting five, but in each match, he spends an average of 20 minutes on the court and is currently the most productive, gaining 14.7 points per game. Periodically, the coaching staff of the Perm team plays with Konstantin Bulanov. Eugeniy Valiev has spent 4 matches, playing an average of 16 minutes on the court, and American Robert Johnson has spent only one game, gaining 13 points and making 3 interceptions.

Standings: “Astana” after two consecutive victories has improved its position and is on the 8th line of the tournament table with five wins and six losses. “PARMA” has begun the season with three defeats in a row — two away from CSKA and “Nizhny Novgorod”, as well as a lost home game with “Yenisei”. Then there was a home victory over “Kalev” and a major away defeat with the team “Stelmet Zielona Gora”. But in the next two matches, “PARMA” was very close to sensations, first losing only three points to «Khimki» in an away game, and then losing only one point to «UNICS» at home. Then in Perm, they defeated «Avtodor» and nevertheless created a sensation by beating «Zenit» on the St. Petersburg court. Our rivals have lost the last three games — at home losing to CSKA, on the road in the match against Lokomotiv-Kuban, and having never gladdened their fans before the New Year, they suffered a home defeat from the Belarusian team «Tsmoki-Minsk». «PARMA” is now on the penultimate 12th line of the tournament table, and they are starving for victories.

The history of the games: “PARMA” entered the VTB United League in the 2016/2017 season, but for the first time the teams clashed in the “preseason” of that season in Lithuania at the “One Team Cup” tournament during which “PARMA” turned out to be stronger, having won 4 points. As for VTB United League, in the 2016/2017 season, «Astana» twice confidently defeated the Perm team. The next season in Perm, “Astana” pulled out a victory in overtime, but lost at home. Last season brought our team two difficult victories. Thus, in personal games, “Astana” won 5 matches and lost to “PARMA” 1 game in the VTB United League and one match in the preseason preparation.

Interesting Facts:

• “Astana” won all away matches in Perm in past seasons.
• The coaching staff of «Parma» has a robot — PARMAbot.

The match will take place on Sunday, January 12 in Perm at the arena «Molot», beginning at 18:30 Nur-Sultan time. The live broadcast of the match will be available on our website in the Match Center section.
 
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule and match results are published in the Tournaments section.

In the away match of VTB United League against «Parma», «Astana» Presidential Basketball Club lost in overtime and suffered the first away defeat in the history from Perm.

All the fans of the capital’s team really hoped for statistics of the last meetings of “Astana” with Perm, according to which our guys have never lost in Perm. However, the hosts, of course, were very determined to make adjustments to this statistics and take the first victory at home over «Astana». Thus, the game promised to be tough and challenging. At the start of the match, the ideas of Emil Rajkovic were to be realized by the starting five: Dushan Ristic, Alexander Zhigulin, James Florence, Malcolm Hill and Vadim Shcherbak.

Dusan Ristic was not able to beat his counterpart on a toss, after which, although not in the first attack, the hosts opened the score in the match. «Astana» carried out their first attacks from behind the arc, but this did not bring the desired result when out of six three-point attempts by Astana players, only one, performed by Malcolm Hill, reached its goal. Meanwhile, by the middle of the quarter “PARMA” was in the lead by 6 points, but the rebound in the attack by Malcolm Hill and two points from Alexander Zhigulin laid the foundation for our team wagering. Three minutes before the end of the first quarter there was a three-pointer from Zhigulin again, and for the first time the score in the match equalized. The hosts resisted for a long time and did not allow our team to come forward, but in the last minute Jeremiah Hill was accurate from behind the arc and “Astana” pulled away for the first time in the match. But after the buzzer announcing the end of the period, four deuces flaunted on the scoreboard. In the second quarter, a stubborn struggle for the lead took place on the court. Our guys pulled ahead, but the Permians constantly evened the score and did not allow “Astana” to make a sufficient gap. Half of the quarter went in such a manner, but then a couple of unrequited successful attacks followed by our guys gave +7 in favor of Astana. The timeout from Maskvitis could not turn the game around, but at least “PARMA” prevented our team from pulling away. A minute before the end, the Perm coaching staff resorted to a second tactical pause, which this time bore fruit. The hosts began to actively recoup, and before the big break, they completely stepped forward — 42:40.



The game in the third quarter of the players of Emil Rajkovic did not go well from the very beginning. Two points from Malcolm Hill were the only ones in 4 minutes on the account of “Astana”. While the advantage of “Parma” during this time had increased from two points to a double-digit number. Toward the middle of the third quarter, the players of “Astana” were finally able to remove the “spell” from the ring of rivals and began to gain points. However, our rivals were unstoppable and continued to increase their advantage, which two minutes before the end of the third quarter almost reached 20 points. The situation for “Astana” was very difficult, but the capital basketball players were not going to give up and spent very efficiently the remaining couple of minutes reducing the backlog from -18 to -11 points. The third quarter was extremely unfortunate for «Astana», but in the end our guys gained a good pace and the gap before the start of the fourth period did not look so critical. The final quarter began fervently for the players of the Kazakhstan team, who made a couple of interesting steals, but failed in performance and the score was opened by Perm. “Astana” scratched out the much-needed points, but “PARMA” went well in attacks and grasped its advantage thoroughly. And yet, slowly but surely, the gap between the teams narrowed. The hosts fought back as best they could, but “Astana” systematically went to restore balance in the game and a little more than a minute before the end of the match the score was evened out, thanks to the efforts of Jeremiah Hill. After a couple of attacks, “Astana” had a great chance to win this match and a full-fledged attack in the last seconds, but in the end everyone was waiting for overtime with the score 86:86.

Both teams were exhausted by a tense struggle and an additional five minutes of playing time were extremely difficult. Each point was as valuable as gold, and any mistake could lead to irreparable consequences. Half of the overtime of the team went neck to neck and it was extremely difficult to predict the outcome of the game. But then “PARMA” was able to earn a small handicap and, with the frenzied support of the stands, was on a roll. Players of “Astana” were noticeably tired physically, nevertheless, our team had chances, but the ball bluntly did not fly into the ring at the most necessary moments. As a result, “PARMA” defeated the Kazakhstan team in Perm for the first time in history — 100: 91 (22:22, 20:18, 25:16, 19:30, 14: 5).
 

Most productive:

• “Astana” — the most productive player of the whole match was Malcolm Hill, who today scored 26 points and 7 rebounds. Jeremiah Hill also broke the milestone of 20 points — 21 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Dusan Ristic today could not boast of a double-double, but was close to it — 9 points and 11 rebounds, and James Florence and Stephen Holt crossed the line of 10 points, 12 for James and 11 for Stephen.
• “PARMA” — undoubtedly today the match was won by Adas Juskevicius — 21 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Marex Meyeris scored with a double-double — 16 points and 11 rebounds), and Nikolai Zhmako brought his team 19 points.

The head coach of «Parma» — Kazys Maksvytis:
- It was a very changeable game. I am glad that the team showed character, especially in the third quarter and in overtime. It is a pity that the opponent managed to reduce the backlog, which ultimately led to overtime. Perhaps one of the reasons is that as early as the middle of the week, Lorenzo Williams and Maxim Grigoriev had minor injuries, and Robert Johnson did not participate in practices. But I am pleased with the spirit of my players and the fact that they managed to turn the tide of the game and take the victory in overtime.

Head coach of “Astana” — Emil Rajkovic:
- Congratulations to «Parma» on the victory. It was a very interesting game. We allowed the opponent to make two large breaks on points, but after we managed to return to the game after a lag of 18 points. In the last seconds of the match, we had the possession and the opportunity to make the winning throw, which we planned, but, unfortunately, failed to realize it. In overtime, we lost 9 points. I think this is too much.



Consequences: After the defeat in Perm, “Astana” again left the playoff zone, going down to the 9th line of the tournament table, and “PARMA” has stayed on the same 12th position.

Next match: on January 17 and 18, the capital's basketball players will be visiting Kostanay, where they will hold a National League series against Tobol. In the framework of the VTB united league, players of Emil Rajkovic will play at home on January 26 against the Polish «Zielona Gora».

Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule and match results are published in the Tournaments section.