CSKA will host Lokomotiv Kuban in the Game of the Week.
Place: Russia, Moscow, Megasport (capacity 13,344)
Time: December 15, 2022, 19:30 (Moscow time)
Broadcast: Match! Strana, League website
Rivalry
CSKA versus Loko is one of the main rivalries in Russian basketball. Loko had status of the most unsuitable CSKA opponent in the regular seasons. Since the change to 2-round format in 2014, the Krasnodar team in most cases played equally with the Moscow team.
The exceptions were 3 seasons – 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2021/22 – when CSKA won twice (Loko managed to win both games in the in the 2014/15 season).
In the previous season, CSKA and Lokomotiv played 6 games – 2 in the regular season and 4 in the playoffs. And if during the regular season CSKA had huge wins (88:69 and 91:71), then in the semifinals Loko impressed everyone: the team almost got the win in the first game (90:93) and won at home (94:82). However, the Army team won the series 3-1.
This season, Loko started the game with CSKA in Krasnodar with a 7-0 run and led by 9 points during the first quarter, but then missed the lead. And in the second half, the Moscow team shows high efficiency and won – 84:64.
What has changed since the last game?
The first game of these teams in the 2022/23 season was on October 13. After the win in Krasnodar, CSKA topped the standings and still does not give the 1st place to anyone. Emil Rajkovic team has won all games and is now going for the League record for the best start in history – only 3 wins left.
CSKA has a wide rotation – all players play less than 25 minutes. And this despite the fact that Semen Antonov is ou: the forward was injured against Avtodor and is already recovering from Achilles tendon surgery.
Loko has significantly improved since mid-October. Yes, Sekulic team lost twice more after losing to CSKA and had 2 wins and 4 losses without even getting into the playoff zone at some point. But gradually the Krasnodar team corrected the situation, had a good segment and on Monday the team could even took the win against MBA, but lost (76:89).
A month before the end of the first stage of the regular season, Loko has almost had a place in the Top 6, which will allow the Krasnodar team team to get into group A at the second stage.
Streak
CSKA has won 16 games in a row and has already updated the team high for wins at the start of the season in the League (13). The League high belongs to Khimki – 18 wins in the 2013/14 season.
Numbers and leaders
CSKA is the undisputed leader not only in the standings, but also in many stats. First of all, the scoring is impressive: the Army team score 97.6 points and this is 8.2 points more than the nearest competitor UNICS.
In addition, CSKA leads the season in the shots from the game percentage (54.5%) and three-pointers (42.5%), assists (24.6), rebounds (39.1) and turnovers (the first from the bottom – 12.1).
Loko does not have such stats – largely due to to uncertain start of the season. However, the Krasnodar eam is 2nd in the season in rebounds (37.3) and 4th in assists (18.4). Lokomotiv is better than CSKA in steals – 8.4 versus 7.1.
As individual stats, Jaylen Barford leads the best scoring list with 18.0 points per game. Darral Willis is 4th in rebounds (7.6), and Aleksandr Shcherbenev is among the top best assistants with 5.6 assists per game.
As for CSKA, Alexey Shved is 4th in the season in points (17.1) and 2nd in assists (7.4), Nikola Milutinov is 2nd in rebounds (9.1) and the leader in shots percentage (71.1%).
Fact
Loko cannot win in Moscow for 1805 days. The last time the Krasnodar team beat CSKA in the capital was on January 7, 2018 – 90:79. Nikita Kurbanov is the only one who played in that game and will play in the Game of the Week on Friday.
Newcomers
Loko announced the signing of two American players – Josh Gray and Chris Horton. So far, both legionnaires have not played for their new team – the visa process lasted a little longer than expected.
However, there is progress in this matter: during the week, Loko added Gray and Horton in the roster and a day before the game in Moscow announced that the Americans could help the team.
Questionable
If the situation with Loko newcomers has cleared up, it is still unclear whether Nikola Milutinov will come out on the floor. The MVP of October and one of the best players of the season has already missed 2 games in a row with MINSK and Samara.
