Krasnodar will host regular season game on Tuesday.
Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar) vs UNICS (Kazan)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match! Igra, TV Start, League website
Lokomotiv Kuban: The Krasnodar team beat PARMA for the first time this season and has a chance to push Zenit out of the Top 3 in the next round. The win over the Perm team is important for Loko psychologically – the team managed to win in a tight end for the first time in the entire second stage. In the game versus the reigning champion, Loko will once again face an equal opponent that also has a dominant frontcourt. It will be difficult to play in the paint, so Loko pace advantage will become a key. Jalen Barford, who scored 33 points against UNICS on March 2, will surely play an important role. In addition, the Krasnodar team will have the home court advantage, where the team beat Kazan by 21 points in December and managed to win in the end.
UNICS: The win over Zenit made Velimir Perasovic team the sole leader in the standings. The game against Zenit showed that the Kazan team star players are in shape before the Playoffs, as Nenad Dimitrijevic and Jalen Reynolds combined for 48 points. The trip to Krasnodar will be tough, but UNICS has a few advantages. On all 3 games versus Loko, the Kazan team has won the first half, losing the lead only once. Also, the reigning champion leads in average blocks (4.1 per game), which allowed to limit the opponent bigmen in the last game. And on the season, the Kazan team is much more stable than the opponent, showing best field-goal percentage in the entire League (49.8%). Therefore, UNICS has every chance to win its third straight game.
