The Scene
The All-Star Game is quickly approaching and anticipation in building around the League. But before we celebrate in St. Petersburg, two must-see games will dominate the headlines on Wednesday and Thursday.
What? Where? When?
8:00 PM, February 14. Basket Hall, Krasnodar
Lokomotiv-Kuban – CSKA
8:00 PM, February 15. Yubileyny Sports Palace, St. Petersburg
Zenit – Khimki
Head-to-Head Records in the League
Lokomotiv-Kuban – CSKA: 8-15
Zenit – Khimki: 6-6
Lokomotiv-Kuban
12-2, Streak: 1 loss
The win over CSKA in Moscow allowed Lokomotiv to knock the Army Men out of 1st place and created a huge buzz around Sasa Obradovic’s club. The team was playing terrific basketball, boasted a ridiculous winning streak, and enjoyed one of the best home-court advantages in the League. No arguing with that. The loss to Avtodor, however, brought Lokomotiv quickly back down to earth, and also dropped the Railwaymen out of 1st place.
In the rematch with CSKA, Loko will try to protect its reputation as the trendiest team in the League. As for winning the regular season? This game has huge implications on the final standings and home-court advantage in the postseason.
Watch Dmitry Kulagin. The ex-CSKA guard dominated the game in Moscow, showing he’s much more than a role player for Lokomotiv. On Wednesday, one of Russian basketball’s most intriguing talents will try to do something few have accomplished: Make CSKA’s defense look bad twice in a row.
CSKA
13-2, Streak: 3 straight wins
Lokomotiv has been CSKA’s toughest opponent in the VTB League. Moscow even lost twice to Krasnodar in the 2014-15 season. They don’t want that to happen again. The Red-Blues in Krasnodar is a guarantee for a Basket Hall sellout and crazy atmosphere, but CSKA has one goal in mind for the trip south: revenge. The stakes are huge for both clubs.
Watch Nando De Colo. The Frenchman is playing at a high level (no surprise) and Dimitris Itoudis is unlikely to give him much rest in such an important game. You don’t want to miss a chance to see Nando De Colo put it all on the line.
Zenit
11-3, Streak: 1 loss
Zenit already took revenge on Khimki for the 2017 playoff semifinals, defeating the Yellow-Blues in Moscow Region. Doing it for a second time, in front of the St. Petersburg fans, would be priceless. Despite a difficult offseason and challenging start to the season, St. Petersburg is contention for one of the top seeds. The club is a few games back of UNICS, CSKA and Loko, but Vasily Karasev and co. have plenty of opportunities to make up lost ground, even with the recent setback in Astana. Beating another top five team would be the perfect way to forget the 23-point defeat in Kazakhstan and regain momentum.
Watch Sergey Karasev. The Russian forward is one of the few players on Zenit’s roster that remembers last year’s playoff meeting with Khimki. Karasev was named January MVP and will try to show why against one of his biggest rivals.
Khimki
7-7, Streak: 2 straight losses
Khimki bounced back from its early January crisis, winning several vital EuroLeague games, where the club is in position for a quarterfinal berth. But the situation is more complicated in the VTB League. Khimki has lost five straight against other Big Five teams and trails 4th-place Zenit by 4.5 games. The club has also lost several surprising games to teams beneath them in the standings, resulting in a 7-7 record with 10 games remaining. The trip to St. Petersburg could have been a chance for Khimki to salvage a shot at a top-four finish, but after the fiasco vs. VEF, the Yellow-Blues are playing for pride… and 5th place.
Watch Stefan Markovic. The one-time Zenit fan favorite returns to the Yubileyny court for the first time wearing a different uniform.
