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

On May 5th, Lokomotiv Kuban meets Enisey at home. Krasnoyarsk has won a few important games at the end of the regular season and they still have a chance to advance to Top-8. Loko has to maintain the third place in the standings. The game will be the last on at home in the regular championship. Next time our team will play in Basket Hall in play-offs.

The Take

Enisey joined the fray too late. In previous five rounds, Krasnoyarsk won as many games as in the whole season until the moment – 3. Oleg Okulov’s team didn’t bring big surprises but still has chances to advance to play-offs. The chances are quite low but anything is possible in basketball. The Take is:

They need Nizhny Novgorod to lose all left games (Avtodor, Loko – both home games).
They need to win all their left games (Loko, Khimki).

Of course PARMA, Astana, and Tsmoki can easily ruin the plans but still implementation of these two causes seems to be unrealistic.

However, the first step has been made: Enisey beat Tsmoki.

For sure, we would love to watch such a big fight at the end of the regular championship but Enisey will play against Lokomotiv.

Loko takes the third place in the standings and now everything is in its hands. The Take 2:

We need to win all our left games (Enisey, Khimki, Nizhny).
See above.

If the most reliable defense of the League shows its best at the end of the season, results of the rivals won’t bother Loko. However, all our competitors have their serious goals in the standings and the games would be tough. VEF was a good example of that even though it lost.

Opponent

Zabian Dowdell (12.1) and Anthony Hilliard are able to control everything. The Americans together got 53 points against PARMA in the first half of the season. But now they just back off. Surprisingly, it is in favor of the team’s results. Anthony didn’t get more than 10 points in each of three previous games. Zabian got 27 points in the UNICS game and 11 assists in the Zenit game. But it didn’t work. He still has two attempts.

Loko

In the VEF game, we watched a shift of Loko’s leader again. In Riga, it was Joe Ragland. Such leapfrog is not a problem but an advantage of the whole system. Once a leader is out (Broekhoff), he is replaced by another one (Maciulius). Wasn’t Collins too good? Joe Ragland showed his best. Joe got 18 points, 4 assists and was the only Loko player who netted from downtown (2/6).

Quotes

— The regular championship is coming to the end. All teams want to get to play-offs. The fight in the lower part of the standings is tough. Enisey has a good team which has shown good results in the end of the season. They have nothing to lose and will play like in play-offs. That’s why we need to be very concentrated during the whole game. Moreover, it’s our last home game in the regular season and we’ll do our best to please the fans and win it.

Stanislav Ilnitsky, Forward of PBC Lokomotiv Kuban

Where-When

Lokomotiv Kuban plays against Enisey in Krasnodar on May 5^th at 3:00 p.m. Moscow time.

Broadcasting on Loko’s official website and The VTB United League website