Due to the introduction of the inter-season cup, we’ll play the Perm team at least 6 times this season (and CSKA also, by the way) – looks like a full-fledged playoff series!
And we started this series with a loss – a month ago, we were defeated 84:91 in Perm, despite starting the game well, and Kirill Temirov’s personal scoring record (21 points).
In fact, if we take last season and this one separately, PARMA is Lokomotiv’s most inconvenient opponent. We’ve played them 5 times in this stretch, winning only once. For comparison, we’re 2-3 against CSKA in this stretch, 4-4 against UNICS, and 6-6 against Zenit.
Since our previous Winline Basket Cup game, the Perm team has played 5 league games, defeating Avtodor (93:72), Samara (103:81), and MBA-MAI (82:70), but then losing to Zenit (79:82) and Uralmash (87:88) in two dramatic endings.
With a 5-4 win-loss record, BETCITY PARMA is tied for 5-7th place with Zenit and Uralmash. Lokomotiv-Kuban and MBA-MAI are one win ahead.
The “aggressive guards” our head coach talks about are, first and foremost, the point guards with the same last name – Adamses. Brendan Adams averages 17.4 points and 5.9 assists—both of which are 5th in the league. He takes 7.0 3-pointers per game, hitting 3.0 of them (42.9%).
Jaylen Adams has an even higher 3-point percentage, scoring 54.5% of long-distance shots (2.7 of 4.9). This helps him average 15.4 points, complementing them with 3.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.6 steals.
At the start of the season, center Terrell Carter dominated the post like Shaquille – 13.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.4 blocks. But the 290-pound giant missed the previous game, and it’s not a given that we’ll see him in Krasnodar.
BETCITY PARMA, however, has another American bigman back in action: Mikael Hopkins. Over two games, he’s averaged 7.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks.
The Perm team is in the league’s top five in almost every key statistical metric (except free throw accuracy). This is well illustrated by shooting guard Victor Sanders‘ numbers – he leads his team in box plus/minus (+10.2) and steals (1.7), averaging 3.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 12.4 points with a 3-point shooting percentage of 34.5 (2.1 of 6.1).
But it is another player who currently has the highest percentage of 3-pointers at BETCITY PARMA – center Alexander Shashkov with a sensational 71.4% (1.0 out of 1.4 attempts). His overall stats are also sound: 7.8 points and 3.2 rebounds.
The Perm coaching staff is giving a lot of playing time to 4 local players aged 19-20. Many experts consider the youngest of them, power forward Lev Svinin, to be the #1 star. His league statistics may not look impressive: 4.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.2 steals, and 0.3 blocks. But in a game against us a month ago, it was Svinin who made several game-changing shots.
And 20-year-old center Gleb Firsov’s statistics are already doing well: 10.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 0.9 blocks.
Of the players with Russian passports, small forward Alexander Zakharov plays the most for BETCITY PARMA. In 21 minutes per game, he averages 6.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.4 rebounds.
It looks like BETCITY PARMA is currently playing the best basketball in their history. That’s why the crowd’s support is so important to Lokomotiv Kuban today. Get your tickets now if you haven’t already. See you in the Basket Hall stands at 8:00 PM.
Go, Loko!