This will be the 25th game between the opponents in the VTB United League. Lokomotiv Kuban have suffered only 4 defeats.
But the 4th one was not so long ago – on November 6 in Krasnodar. It was a big disappointment for the Krasnodar fans: just 2 minutes before the end, Loko was leading by 7 points, but allowed the PARMA to take the lead, and in the last attack there were four throws to tie the score – all in vane, 79:81. This was the third defeat in a row for the Krasnodar team after 9 victories at the start of the championship.
After the November break for national team games, Loko played away three times: beat UNICS (87:75), quite unexpectedly lost to Samara (71:72), and defeated Uralmash in a tense ending (90:83). Now the Krasnodar club is in third place, two wins behind CSKA and Zenit and one win ahead of UNICS.
PARMA also played three games during this period. First, they lost to CSKA in Moscow (91:110). Garrett Nevels and Alexander Shashkov each scored 22 points for the Perm team in that game. 18-year-old forward Lev Svinin spent 18 minutes on the court and wasn’t bad.
Then, on the parquet of the home Molot arena, Evgeny Pashutin’s team beat Uralmash in a thriller with a score of 88:85. Even 36 points from Ural’s Jeremiah Martin did not help. For PARMA, the list of snipers was again headed by Nevels (22), Timofey Yakushin added 19 points, Alexander Zakharov – 16.
But that evening, Nevels and Zakharov both were injured, and without them, PARMA lost at home to Yenisei, 64:81, despite a double-double by Royce Hamm (22+10) and 16 points + 5 assists by Alex Hamilton.
And at the moment, the Perm team with a win-loss ratio of 7-11 shares 7-9 places in the tournament table with Samara and Avtodor.
According to Pashutin, Zakharov and Nevels will miss the match against Loko. On the other side, Samson Ruzhentsev played his first match against Yenisei after a long absence for PARMA.
Where to watch
The game will be broadcasted live on the Krasnodar, Start Triumph and Match! Igra TV channels, as well as on the VTB United League and our websites.
Go, Loko!