PARMA is the only team that Loko has not yet beaten this season. Undoubtedly, it’s going to be a very exciting match with numerous interesting confrontations, including personal ones. For example, what about the return of Loko ex-coach and ex-captain? They are Evgeniy Pashutin and Stanislav Ilnitsky, respectively.
Disposition
PARMA goes 5th at the moment, two wins behind Loko. Also, the Krasnodar team has an extra game to play. Alexander Sekulić’ team, in turn, now closes the top quartet. Zenit, which is 3rd, is one win ahead. So, the game is very important for both teams. The playoffs are much closer than it seems, and each game greatly influences the distribution of places in the Top 6. Since Loko and PARMA are now 4-5th, it turns out that this is a battle for home court advantage in the quarterfinals.
At the same time, the Krasnodar team currently has very tangible chances to finish the regular season second, which will give them an opponent from the Bottom 8 in the playoffs. But in order for there to be real reasons to think about this in the future, first Loko needs to defeat PARMA, a team that out of the first five matches in the top six won three (including against CSKA and UNICS), and in general still looks like it’s having the best season in its 12-year history.
Loko’s results in the second round are more modest – in four games there is only one victory so far. A match in their home arena is a good chance to get a second one: playing in the Krasnodar Basket Hall this season, Loko wins 86% of the time.
Their leaders
During the season, the opponent has proven that it has enough bright performers, but PARMA is strong because of its team play. The result that the Permians achieved was based on dedication and tenacious defense. Both Loko and PARMA are the two league leaders in rebounds, so we shall await a decent fight in the posts.
Let us not forget about 12 rebounds that Ruslan Abdulbasirov made on the Basket Hall floor in the regular season match in October. Especially interesting is the fact that 9 of them were collected in attack.
The second “tower” in the Permian fortress is Richard Solomon. He makes 7.7 rebounds per game and is among the top three in the league in this component.
At the front court of PARMA’s attacks is the league’s MVP for January, B.J. Johnson, who averages 19.2 points per game (the 2nd best result in the tournament). Helping him out are CJ Bryce with 14.1 points per game and Isaiah Reese with 15.3 points. Reese is also the main constructor of Evgeniy Pashutin’s team attacks – he has an average of 6.1 assists per game, which allows him to be in the Top-4 of the best passers in the league.
Add to this the experienced Stanislav Ilnitsky and Alexander Platunov, who are very inconvenient for any defense, and here we see the powerful, versatile and combat-ready team.
Where to watch
“Krasnodar” and “Match! Arena” TV channels, lokobasket.com and VTB United league official site.