Lokomotiv Kuban will face Parma in the Playoff Series.
Games Schedule
Game 1. April 23, 20:00 (Moscow time), Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Game 2. April 25, 20:00 (Moscow time), Krasnodar, Basket-Hall.
Game 3. April 28, 16:00 (14:00 Moscow time), Perm, UDS Molot.
Game 4.* April 30, 17:00 (15:00 Moscow time), Perm, UDS Molot*.
Game 5.* May 3, 19:30 (Moscow time), Krasnodar, SC Basket-Hall*.
* – if necessary.
Regular Season
Lokomotiv Kuban: 4th place (23 wins and 13 losses)
PARMA: 5th place (20 wins and 16 losses)
Season RIvalry
The rivals could not reveal the strongest this season – the series is tied. PARMA won the first game at the very beginning, when Loko couldn’t find last year’s game. The Perm team snatched win in overtime with C.J. Bryce game-winning shot – for PARMA it was the first success in Krasnodar since 2016. The next game took place in Perm, and Evgeny Pashutin team won once again. It’s worth noting that DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell missed both games.
But in the second half of the season, the Krasnodar team took revenge. And again, both games were as intense and dramatic as the Playoffs. The end of the game in Krasnodar, Loko got the win after Vladislav Emchenko made shot. The last game between these teams in the regular season was in Perm and had a significance. At that point, PARMA still had a theoretical chance to surpass Loko and get 4th place in the standings with home court advantage. Loko quickly took the initiative, but the Perm team was managed to make a 15-point comeback. However, a lot of turnovers (24 – the second worst total of the season) prevented PARMA from clinching the end. The season series ended – 2:2.
Why Lokomotiv Kuban can win?
This season, the Krasnodar team has firmly established as the most emotional team in the League. Once Aleksander Sekulic team get going and find the rhythm, it can be extremely difficult to stop them. And it doesn’t really matter what is the socre: Loko is the season’s all-time leader in comebacks. Not surprisingly, the team also hold the regular season record for points scored – in the game against UNICS, Loko trailed by 22 points, but managed to get the win.
Of course, Loko fast-paced and open basketball means high efficiency, and the Krasnodar team offense is doing just fine. The team ranks third in average scoring (84.2 points per game), ahead of even Zenit.
But Loko is the worst team in three-point shooting (32.3%). However, the Krasnodar team basketball is built on quick transitions from defense to offense, aggressive drives to the paint and the athleticism of players like Andrey Martyuk, DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell and Okaro White. Three-pointers are not the team’s strongest weapon.
To correct that and balance the game, Loko management made a strong move before the Playoffs and signed Astana guard Karvel Anderson. He broke Alexey Shved record held since 2017 for three-pointers made in single season. Even though Anderson will need time to adapt, having such a dangerous long-range shooter on the team should noticeably diversify Loko offense.
Why PARMA can win?
The Krasnodar team main strengths can simultaneously become its weaknesses. Loko is very dependent on mood and on more physical factors – speed, pace, space. PARMA is almost the most uncomfortable opponent for Sekulic team could face in the first stage of the Playoffs.
It’s hard to find two other teams in the top eight that are as different from each other. Evgeny Pashutin team is the only one in Group A that didn’t alet opponents score more than 80 points per game in the regular season. PARMA focuses on team defense, which will be the basis for the offense in the future. Throughout the season, the Perm team has allowed the opponents to score 90 points only 3 times in 36 games. PARMA is perfectly capable of controlling the tempo and plays tough positional basketball with plenty of contact – if the series stretches to 5 games, this style of play will clearly give the Perm team an advantage.
Unlike Loko, which strengthened its roster with Anderson and Patrick Miller before the Playoffs, and successfully replaced Jordan Morgan with Maurice Ndour, PARMA failed to strengthen its roster. On the other hand, the Perm team already had an impressive selection in the offseason, without any transfer mistakes. B.J. Johnson, Isaiah Reese, Richard Solomon and C.J. Bryce can be called one of the strongest in the League. On average, this Big 4 scored about 60 points per game. It’s worth mentioning that Bryce finished the regular season with a League-best 58.8% three-point percentage!
Despite 2 losses to Loko, overall PARMA played better than the Krasnodar team at the second stage: the perm team started at 6th place, but defeated a few grands and secured 5th place. So PARMA that can be considered more ready for the Playoffs.
X-factor
Both Loko and PARMA can boast that Russians play an important role in their lineups in addition to the star players. This is especially true for Loko. Andrey Martiuk has long been included in all sorts of top young Russian players, and this season the Krasnodar team added talented Kirill Elatontsev. He was allowed to play in the main lineup last year, but now the young bigman has made a significant step forward – his playing time has doubled, and his game-winning performance against regular-season leader UNICS was one of the best of his career. Aleksandr Scherbenev and Zakhar Vedischev numbers dropped significantly towards the end of the season, and they’ve practically fallen to the bench; on the other hand, Loko suffered 3 losses in 4 games in April, so Sekulic might experiment and give the young guards another chance. Moreover, Scherbenev is quite capable of transforming himself in the Playoffs – last May, he was the key player of the decisive Game 7 of the Semifinals versus CSKA.
PARMA Russian players have also been very useful over the season. Stanislav Ilnitsky, who played 5 seasons in Krasnodar, cemented the Perm team frontcorut. Team captain Aleksandr Platunov repeatedly pulled PARMA out of hopeless situations with his three-pointers: the winning game against Avtodor was especially brilliant, where Platunov set a career-high 28 points. Ruslan Abdulbasirov also became a real discovery of the season. The experienced center, who played in Loko youth project, made his United League debut at age 30. The newcomer was notable not only for his unyielding defense and physical strength, which allowed him to get offensive rebounds. So, while the attention will probably be on the duel between Akoon-Purcell and B.J. Johnson or Jalen Barford and C.J. Bryce, the Russian players may well be the key to their teams’ success.
