This season, the teams have already played each other 6 times, with CSKA winning all 6 (4 in the league and 2 in the intra-season cup), with 3 of those games ending in large margins of 40, 29, and 30 points.
The Muscovites have lost only 3 times throughout the entire championship, having winning percentage of 92.5%. Only once before in the history of the VTB United League has a team finished the regular season with a higher percentage. That was CSKA in the 2022/23 season: 93.7% (30 wins in 32 games). That season, Lokomotiv also lost every single match to them in the first stage by a minimal margin of 14 points. And when the teams met in the semifinals, the favorite seemed obvious. Both Krasnodar and Army fans remember well how that series ended.
Three years ago, Lokomotiv Kuban won the series in overtime in Game 7, 103:100, and advanced to the finals. This means the current team has a great example of how to believe in yourself and work hard to win. Eight players who played in that series will face off in this year’s semifinal series: two from the Red-Green team (Anton Kvitkovskikh and Zakhar Vedishchev), and six from the Red-Blue team (Casper Ware, Samson Ruzhentsev, Ivan Ukhov, Anton Astapkovich, Livio Jean-Charles, and Nikita Kurbanov).
We examined how the players from both semifinalist teams performed in 6 games against each other this season. The top performers were more or less the same, but there were some interesting surprises.
Melo Trimble, as expected, stands out for CSKA. Against Lokomotiv, he’s averaging 19.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.5 steals. He’s fouled more than anyone else (5.7 times per game), so it’s natural that he’s also attempted more free throws than anyone else on the team: 42 (38 made, 90.5% accuracy). Melo also has the most three-point attempts for CSKA: 37 (13 made, 35.1% accuracy). All this gives him a grandmaster-level average efficiency rating of 24.2. In the first round of the current playoffs, Trimble scored 21.7 points, hitting 51.9% of three-pointers (4.7 out of 9 attempts per game).
Second in efficiency in the season series against Lokomotiv is Livio Jean-Charles (19.3 points). He attacked our basket from two-point range more than anyone on the team – 45 times (35 of which were scored, with a 77.8% accuracy rate). He is tied for first in rebounds (6), and second only to the rarely played Alexander Gankevich (0.7) in blocks (0.5). Jean-Charles is the only CSKA player to start in each of the six games, and his combined plus/minus over that stretch (+83) is the best among his teammates. As for the first-round playoff series against Yenisei, the French center had 12.7+5.3 and a 16.3 efficiency rating.
Three CSKA players have scored double-digit points against Lokomotiv – in addition to the two aforementioned, the third one is Casper Ware (10.7). He has a respectable three-point percentage (41.7%), leads the team in assists (4.2), and has a 12.3 efficiency rating. Ware is the only player to finish each of his six games against us with a positive box plus/minus (a total of +77). In the quarterfinal series, he averaged 16 points, 3 assists, and a 43.5% three-point accuracy.
Ivan Ukhov (12.6) is even more effective than Ware in games against Lokomotiv. The shooting guard averages 9.8 points with an impressive 71.4% from beyond the arc (10 of 14), grabs 2.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1 steal, and commits more fouls than any other teammate (3 per game). Last week, against Yenisei, Ukhov wasn’t as prolific (5.7 points, 3 rebounds), but still performed 3.7 assists.
December 5th game in Krasnodar marked Luka Mitrović‘s debut with CSKA. Totally, the center played five times against Lokomotiv, scoring not so much (3.8 points), but tying with Jean-Charles for the rebounding lead (6). With an efficiency rating of 8.6, Mitrović has the team’s lowest overall plus/minus (+1). In the first round of the playoffs, the Serb had 4.7 points, 4 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1 steal.
Antonius Cleveland, who spent last season with Lokomotiv, suddenly blossomed against his former team as a long-range shooter after joining CSKA: 53.3% (8 of 15). This helps him average 8.7 points. Compared to his time in Krasnodar, Cleveland‘s rebounds (1.8), steals (0.8), and blocks (0.2) have declined, which is perhaps expected given his reduced playing time (18 minutes).
CSKA’s depth is illustrated by the fact that only three of their players averaged more than 20 minutes per game against Lokomotiv. Besides Trimble (24 minutes) and Ware (22.5), the list includes Anton Astapkovich (21.5). His stats highlight 1.2 steals and a 58.8% two-point percentage (6.3 points per game). Interestingly, in the series against Yenisei, Astapkovich also averaged 6.3 points, but this time on three-pointers (55.6% – 1.7 of 3 attempts).
Samson Ruzhentsev (+69) is third in overall plus/minus in the season series against Lokomotiv. His stats in these six games are 6.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.7 steals, and 2.5 fouls. In the quarterfinals, the guard was among CSKA’s best: 14.7 efficiency rating, 8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals.
Nikita Kurbanov has been consistently productive in his 18.5 minutes: 5.2 points (on 83.3% of his two-point attempts), 3.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.2 blocks. And in the series against Yenisei, he finished second on the team in steals (1.7).
Lokomotiv’s Patrick Miller has struggled against CSKA this season, averaging just 9.5 points in 27 minutes and the worst overall box plus/minus (–86). The point guard is shooting 27.1% on two-pointers and 25% on three-pointers, but still has a strong rate in assists (7.2) and steals (1.3). This allows him to remain in the team’s top three in efficiency (13.7 points). However, Miller‘s performance in the recent series against BETCITY PARMA is pretty strong: averaging 18 points, 3 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 1.7 steals, and a league-leading efficiency rating of 26.7 points at this stage.
After missing the November game against CSKA, Jeremiah Martin averaged 13.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.4 steals, and was especially impressive with 1.2 blocks in his next 5 games. This gave him the second-highest efficiency rating on Lokomotiv (14 points). In the quarterfinals, Martin put together a strong defensive line: 11.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 3 steals, and, let’s admire again, 1 block.
Alen Hadzibegovic is the best scorer and the most efficient player on the current Lokomotiv team in the season series against CSKA. However, there’s a catch: the center played only one of these games for the Krasnodar team, with the other two coming for Avtodor. Regardless, in all three of these games, he averaged 18.3 points (on 62.2% two-pointers), 6 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.7 steals, 1.3 blocks, and a KPI of 19.3. Lately, in the series against BETCITY PARMA, Hadzibegovic had 7.3 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, and an efficiency rating of 10.3.
Mike Moore made his Lokomotiv debut in the same game as Mitrović for CSKA. Against the Moscow team, the American has been our most reliable scorer this season, shooting 64.3% from two-point range, 43.5% from three-point range (10-of-23), and 100% from free throw range, for a total of 10.4 points per game. The forward has the best overall plus/minus against CSKA (–24) among Lokomotiv players who have played more than one game. In the first round of the playoffs, Moore finished second on the team in scoring (12.7 points on 44.4% shooting from beyond the arc).
Playing 25 minutes per game against CSKA, Vsevolod Ishchenko averaged 9.5 points (on 57.1% three-point shooting), 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 0.7 steals, for an efficiency rating of 12.5. The guard’s performance in the quarterfinals was slightly less impressive: 8.2 points, 3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.7 steals, and an efficiency rating of 9.3.
Three Lokomotiv players scored exactly 57 points (9.5 on average) in six games against CSKA – Miller, Ishchenko, and Vince Hunter. The center had 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.3 blocks this season against our semifinal opponent. In the series against BETCITY PARMA, Hunter led the team in all key stats: 11.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.7 steals, 1 block, and a 15 efficiency rating.
Anton Kvitkovskikh is the only player to be ejected early from 3 of 6 games against CSKA due to foul trouble (he averages 4.3 fouls per game). The forward averaged 8 points, making 100% of his free throws, and grabbing 2.8 rebounds. In the first round of the playoffs, Kvitkovskikh also fouled heavily (3.7), while also averaging 10.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and one steal.
Kirill Temirov has struggled against CSKA so far this season: he’s averaging 3 points and shooting 22.2% from both 2-point and 3-point range. However, the forward is making 5-of-5 free throws. We believe Kirill will be the wild card who comes into his own when the going gets tough.
Daniil Kasko‘s statistics are also worth mentioning. But here, the same catch applies as with Hadzibegovic: the Belarusian forward played 3 of his 4 games against CSKA this season while on loan to Avtodor. Saratov lost each time by a significant margin, so Kasko‘s combined plus/minus was –83. However, he’s averaging 7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0.5 blocks, 50% three-point shooting (5 of 10), a 7.3 efficiency rating, and his first double-double in the VTB United League—11+10 performance in the March 19 game.
И 12, и 14 мая матчи в столичном спорткомплексе «Мегаспорт» будут начинаться в 19:30. Если вы хотите в эти дни поддержать «Локомотив-Кубань» на трибунах, пишите в комментарии в клубном телеграм-канале и (новинка!) в МАХ. В Краснодар серия до 4 побед переедет на следующей неделе, играем 18 и 20 мая. Билеты в продаже ещё есть.
On May 12 and 14, games at the Megasport sports complex in Moscow will start at 7:30 PM. If you’d like to support Lokomotiv Kuban in the stands on these days, leave a comment on the club’s Telegram channel. The best-of-seven series moves to Krasnodar next week; we play at our arena on May 18 and 20. Tickets are still available.
Go, Loko!