“Match of the Week” status is not anyone’s personal subjective opinion, it is the official definition of the United League, which is based on a number of factors: the current position of the teams, their achievements in recent seasons or Some factors particularly surprising history of the clubs’ relationship. Now everything is absolutely logical: Zenit is in third place, Loko is one line lower in the table. The Saint Petersburg team is the champion of the 2021/22 United League, the Kuban team is the silver medalist of the 2022/23 tournament and both teams did not allow the club with the most national basketball titles, CSKA, to reach the top. in the playoff series of the corresponding seasons.
Both rivals of the upcoming “Match of the Week” came into this match with impressive statistics. Zenit has 9 wins in the last 10 games, Loko celebrated success 11 times in 13 previous meetings, and the Kuban team’s winning streak at home has already reached eight games.
Last Thursday, another team that suffered a defeat in Krasnodar was the debutant of the Yekaterinburg elite “Uralmash” (73:98). The southerners already in the first quarter (28:15) created a winning base and won the other three ten-minute periods. The students of the Lokomotiv-Kuban club system played a brilliant match: the best young player of the United League 2021/22 and 2022/23, Andrei Martyuk, scored 13 points, Zakhar Vedischev – 11, and the 211-centimeter center Kirill Elatontsev added 10 with each round, the team’s single-season scoring record (previously 96 points).
– I didn’t expect the difference on the scoreboard to be so big. “We definitely played much better than in the first round in Yekaterinburg and we can be sincerely happy with this victory,” Loko and Slovenian national team coach Alexander Sekulic said at a press conference. – We had a great advantage in rebounds, we attacked with a very good shooting percentage and scored many points on fast breaks.
Let us remember that in the first round of the second half of October, Lokomotiv-Kuban at home with a virtual full house (about six thousand spectators!) snatched victory from Zenit with a difference of an accurate shot: 69:67. Now the Petersburgers will have the advantage of having their stands.
– Sunday’s match against Zenit is a match for third place in the table. That’s why we arrived in St. Petersburg in the best possible mood,” said Lokomotiv-Kuban and Russian national team guard Alexander Shcherbenev. – I think Zenit is a very good team. We beat them in the first round and it’s clear they have a grudge against us. It won’t be easy to play!
By the way, Shcherbenev, with a good chance of final success, claims the title of “Best Athlete of Kuban 2023”. Since 2011, the award has been awarded by the Krasnodar Regional Branch (KKRO) of the Federation of Sports Journalists of Russia (president of the KKRO – Maxim Osadnik). The winner is determined by a comprehensive vote of journalists (they name the top 10 athletes) and fans, whose opinion is taken into account at the decisive stage of the selection. Alexander Shcherbenev showed himself especially brilliantly in the 2022/23 United League playoffs, he became one of the main heroes of the tense seven-match semi-final series with CSKA.
Position in the top half of the VTB United League table: CSKA – 16 wins – 2 losses, UNICS (Kazan) – 13-4, Zenit (St. Petersburg) – 13-5, Lokomotiv-Kuban (Krasnodar) – 12- 6, “Yenisey” (Krasnoyarsk) – 10-8, “Parma” (Perm) – 10-8, “Samara” – 10-8.
Where will we see?
December 24, Sunday
“Match TV”, “Match! Game”, “Home TV”
14.00. “Zenit” (St. Petersburg) – “Lokomotiv-Kuban” (Krasnodar). Live broadcast.
“Home of Television”
16.00. “Avtodor” (Saratov) – “Astana” (Kazakhstan). Live broadcast.
“Match! Game”, “TV Home”
18.00. UNICS (Kazan) – Samara. Live broadcast.
THE NAIS IS OFFICIAL EDITOR ON NAIS NEWS