Pari Nizhny Novgorod will play against Lokomotiv Kuban in the Quarterfinals up to 3 wins.
Series Schedule
Game 1 – March 31, 19:30 (Moscow time) in Nizhny Novgorod
Game 2 – April 2, 16:00 (Moscow time) in Nizhny Novgorod
Game 3 – April 5, 20:00 (Moscow time) in Krasnodar
Game 4 – April 7, 20:00 (Moscow time) in Krasnodar (*)
Game 5 – April 10, 19:30 (Moscow time) in Nizhny Novgorod (*)
* – if necessary
Regular season
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: 4th place (17 wins and 15 losses)
Lokomotiv Kuban: 5th place (17 wins and 15 losses)
Rivalry
The teams have been playing in the United League since 2011, but faced for the first time in the 2012/13 season – both games were won by Loko. In the 11-year history of the rivalry, the Krasnodar team has nearly always been favorites, as evidenced by the results: 15 wins in 20 games against Nizhny Novgorod, but Loko has always beaten the Volga team at least once in a season.
That was before the 2022/23 regular season.
This season the things has drastically changed. With the new Regular Season schedule, the teams played 4 games. Zoran Lukic team won all 4 games and finished the 4th, leaving Loko at the 5th place.
In both games at the first stage, Pari NN won confidently – 93:79 and 73:63, without allowing their opponent to hope for a comeback.
In the second stage, Loko was close to winning twice. More than that: at the beginning of February, the Krasnodar team dominated for the whole game at home and Jalen Barford’s dunk with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter should have end the game – 80:71. But in the remaining time, Pari NN made one of the most spectacular comebacks of the season, scoring 9 points in a row in 68 seconds. In the end, the Volga team managed to win without an overtime, Maksim Salash scored a lay-up just before the buzzer.
A month later, the teams played in Nizhny Novgorod, and the game was named as “the battle for 4th place”. By that time, it was already known that Pari NN and Loko would play in the first round, so the home court advantage was on the line.
Both teams played solid defense, with the game decided in the last minutes. Loko trailing by 6 points and managed to tie the game 80 seconds before the buzzer. Only later, Nizhny Novgorod made a 5:0 run, winning the game and getting home court advantage.
Key factor of the Series
Dragan Apic’s health
The Serbian bigman previously played in the League for Loko and Zielona Gora, joined Pari NN in the summer and became one of the key players in Zoran Lukic system. Apic has been progressing from game to game, his presence in the paint greatly improved his team’s defense and his ability to make offensive rebounds gave his teammates to score second-chance points.
But Apic wasn’t even on the roster for the last regular season game against MBA, as he suffered an injury. If the center doesn’t return in time for the Playoffs, Nizhny may struggle with Loko, whose frontcourt is shaped by Andrey Martiuk and Chris Horton.
Heroes
Pari Nizhny Novgorod
Jermaine Love. The guard was a hero in his debut for his new team, with 26 points and 7 assists against Enisey. He struggled to score consistently, but as the Playoffs came closer, Love found his rhythm. March was particularly successful: he scored 28 points against UNICS, 20 against Zenit and 34 (a season-high) against CSKA.
Another team leader is Maksim Salash. The Belarusian forward seems to specialize in the rivalry with Loko – he was the hero of the game endings of the second leg of the regular season. During that very same comeback, Salash made the game-winning shot and scored the team’s final 5 points at the home game in March.
But it’s not just the offense that makes Pari Nizhny Novgorod strong – Zoran Lukic’s team has the 3rd best defensive performance of the season, letting opponents score 75.3 points per game. Evgenii Baburin is one of the key anchors of defense, a contender for the Defensive Player of the Year award. At 35, the team captain has played all 32 games in the regular season and leads the League in steals (2.2 average).
Lokomotiv Kuban
It’s difficult to single out Loko best player: several players handled the team play. Barford and Akoon-Purcell duo is averaging 30 points per game, and the team offensive impact is coming from Jalen and DeVaughn.
Andrey Martiuk does a tremendous amount of the work. The League’s best young player in the 2021/22 season is motivated to defend that award, as evidenced by his 10.7 points (3rd on the team) and 4.9 rebounds (3rd on the team) – while still only 22 years old.
Chris Horton, along with Martiuk, is the main bigman of the team. The forward joined Loko in the middle of the season, replacing Darral Willis, and has established as a strong defensive player. Horton is the team’s best rebounder (6.2 per game), with Chris ranking among the League’s top in steals (1.8) and blocks (1.1).
Fact
Nizhny Novgorod won last Playoff series in the United League in May 2015, beating Zenit 3:2 in a Quarterfinals, with the fifth decisive game taking place in St Petersburg. Evgenii Baburin and Dmitriy Khvostov are now in the team.
Loko has been more consistent in the Playoffs: 6 times out of 10 the team has reached at least the Semifinals.
We want to win the series in as few games as possible
Loko forward DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell is determined not just to beat Pari NN. In an interview, he stressed that the team are determined to win the series without any chances to the Volga team:
«We are in good shape. We don’t just want to win the series, but to finish it with as few games as possible. We’re looking forward to the Playoffs. We’re focused on revenging for the regular season losses».
