VTB United League president Sergey Kushchenko commented on the exciting start to 2018 around the League.
– This was one of the most exciting and intriguing weekends in League history. Look, Zenit had a hard-fought win in Minsk, Khimki lost unexpectedly in Estonia and Loko defeated CSKA. These New Year’s surprises hint at the Final Four’s potential for intrigue.
Loko held on against the Army Men’s pressure today and showed that when you play as a team you can beat any opponent. To me, it looks like CSKA is running into its traditional January swoon, something that’s happened several years in a row. It’s impossible to play at such a high level forever. This isn’t the first time Lokomotiv-Kuban has traveled to Moscow at the same time when CSKA is slumping a bit. Today, the visitors showed solid defense against the home team and forced the Army Men to frequently make the wrong decisions. Dmitry Kulagin’s play was also a key factor. He wanted to show his former team what he could do. His teammates helped him play an outstanding game.
