Loko vs Pari NN: to finish the year victoriously

The last game of 2024 in the VTB United League will take place in Krasnodar – on December 26 at 8 PM Lokomotiv Kuban will host Pari Nizhny Novgorod.

The Nizhny Novgorod team had some adventures getting to Krasnodar: due to a delay in one of the connecting flights, they were able to arrive only on the night from Wednesday to Thursday, so the guests’ pre-match preparation was somewhat crumpled.

However, Pari NN is one of those opponents who cause you problems in any condition. The overall score of their meetings with Lokomotiv-Kuban in the VTB United League is 19-11 in our favor, but if you look only from the 2022/23 season, it will be 5-5. It is also worth remembering that Sergei Kozin’s guys are the only team, besides us and Zenit, who beat CSKA this season.

True, Paris NN lost its previous game with a Top 4 team with a score of 66:104 – to UNICS in Kazan on December 15. That day, Aubrey Dawkins scored 15 points for Nizhny Novgorod, Ilya Karpenko made 12+6.

After that, our opponent returned home and beat Yenisei 83:66 on December 18. That game became a benefit for Zach Nutall – he scored 31 points thus securing a place in the top three scoring players in the league. Karpenkov (12+7) and Alexander Khomenko (14+5) were also good.

And on December 21, Pari NN lost away to Avtodor – 83:94. This time, the top scorer for Nizhny Novgorod was Nemanja Đurišić – 17+5 assists. Nutall and Khomenko scored 16 points each.

We are going to face a very ambitious opponent. They play well as a team, and they have players who are capable of scoring a lot of points. But we know how to defend against this team. We need to be ready for a tough game and show our level in attack. We are currently in fourth place, and our opponent is in fifth. So we need to keep in mind that we play against our neighbor in the tournament table. We want to win in front of our home crowd. And we are determined to do it.

Andrey Vedishchev, the head coach at Lokomotov Kuban PBC

Fun fact: Lokomotiv Kuban played their previous home game against Pari NN not in the Basket Hall arena, but in the Youth Training Center (and won, 89:64).

The game will be broadcasted live on the Krasnodar and Start TV channels, as well as our web resource.

But it’s better to go to Basket Hall! Let’s say goodbye to 2024 together!