Lokomotiv Kuban vs. PARMA. The VTB United League. Preview

On April 22nd, Lokomotiv Kuban plays against PARMA at home. Krasnodar is striving for the third place in the VTB United League standings and the team treats the game very seriously.

The Take

PARMA is a surprise of the League this year BUT… Perm was the first in the VTB League’s history who got 60 points in the first half against CSKA. BUT they were defeated.

They had a neck-to-neck ending in the Nizhny game BUT…

They got under Zenit’s skin BUT…

They almost massacred Khimki in Podmoskovye BUT…

The Perm team won 7 of 20 games BUT all their wins were achieved in games against rivals for play-off last places. At the end of the regular season, Nikolajs Mazurs’ team will play only against leaders of the championship. If PARMA want to get to Top-8, they have to be heroes.

Lokomotiv Kuban is at the fourth place of the VTB standings and the best defense of the League (73.2 allowed points). For the first time in the season, Loko plays without thoughts about a different tournament. The Russian Cup and the EuroCup are over and Krasnodar got gold and silver medals in them. However, achievements in the EuroCup influenced Loko’s performance in the VTB United League. Since February, Loko won only 1 of 6 games.

The goal to play in Euroleague next season is still relevant. Now the only chance to get to the best European tournament is to win domestic championship.

Zenit takes the third place in the standings at the moment after Loko’s defeat in St. Petersburg.

Now Zenit has one more win than Loko.

The VTB United League Standings

Opponent

Codi Miller-McIntyre is the leader of PARMA without any doubts. The American is the top player in all categories except for rebounds (5.2 – the second in the team). Codi plays for more than 32 minutes and gets 20.1 PIR on average. Moreover, he is the top assister of the whole League.

Loko

As for Loko, stability is our power. Ragland averages 12.6 points, Elegar – 12.3. Kulagin averages 3.5 assists, Collins – 3.2. The only category in which Loko has a certain leader is rebounds. Frank Elegar averages by 1.5 rebounds more than Collins.

Jonas Maciulis is matching the system steadily. According to Sasa Obradovic, he should add experience and stability to Loko’s playing. The forward averages 1.5 steals, 5 points, 3 rebounds at the moment. It’s important that he has good physical conditions ahead of crucial games.

Quotes

— Previous VTB games were difficult for us. We lost the third place in the standings. Anyway, we’ll do our best to finish the regular championship as high as possible. The season is one of the most interesting in the history. A lot of teams have chances to get to play-offs, and PARMA is one of them. They got under skin of many leaders of the tournament and deserve to be in Top-8. We should show our basketball to please our fans and return our confidence ahead of crucial games of the season.

Pavel Antipov, Forward of PBC Lokomotiv Kuban

Where-When

Lokomotiv Kuban plays against PARMA in Krasnodar on April 22^nd at 4:00 p.m. Moscow time.