CSKA defeated Lokomotiv-Kuban and equaled UNICS in the number of victories
[ad_1]
CSKA interrupted its record four-game losing streak by beating Lokomotiv-Kuban away on Sunday. The teams did not have enough regular time to sort things out, so CSKA had to score a victory with a score of 96:82 in overtime. Considering that UNICS misfired in Perm the day before, dual power was once again established in the VTB United League regular season. Formally, the table is headed by Kazan, but CSKA is inferior to them only in additional indicators.
CSKA went to Krasnodar to break not just one, but two depressing series of four defeats. The first began in the seventh game in the semi-finals of the play-offs last season, in which the army team lost to Lokomotiv-Kuban in overtime. It continued in the pre-season Super Cup, where the Krasnodar team was again stronger. Finally, Alexander Sekulic’s team won both regular season matches against CSKA this season. Actually, until Sunday, Lokomotiv-Kuban remained the only team that CSKA had never beaten in the current championship.
As for the second series, it was much shorter in length, but at the same time much more unpleasant for the army men.
It started at the end of January, when the army team lost to UNICS. But then came defeats from Parma, Zenit, and again from UNICS, which deprived the army team of the first place in the standings that seemed to have not been really disputed by anyone not so long ago. Well, they rewrote the club’s anti-record – CSKA had never known such a series of defeats in the VTB United League before.
By the way, a series of four army defeats worried not only CSKA coach Emil Raikovich, but also the head coach of the railwaymen, Alexander Sekulic. He understood perfectly well how angry his rivals would come to Krasnodar. “This is a streak that they really want to break. And they will probably come out very angry and aggressive against us. Therefore, we need to not lose our heads and stay focused from the first seconds,” the specialist noted. But it was with concentration and maintaining composure that the site owners immediately had problems. Nothing unexpected really.
Lokomotiv-Kuban is considered the best in the league in comebacks for a reason, often calmly winning back double-digit deficits.
This is, without a doubt, a commendable ability, but the Krasnodar players would not have had to demonstrate miracles of vitality if inexplicable failures had not occurred in their game. This happened on Sunday already in the first quarter. It appeared as if out of nowhere, but the “plus 12” in favor of CSKA, which were shining on the scoreboard, indicated that something was still wrong with the Krasnodar team. In principle, the first quarter could have decided everything in this confrontation if the hosts had not had Okaro White, who began to literally keep the team afloat and managed to reduce the gap to a minimum. But his abilities were not enough to stop CSKA’s second breakthrough, which was led by Melo Trimble, by far the most useful player of the match (26 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds). As a result, CSKA went into the long break with a 10-point lead.
Well, after the break, the Krasnodar team, naturally, began to perform their favorite number – the heroic return. They were very good. Lokomotiv’s big Andrei Martyuk looked powerful, all the team’s snipers suddenly wiped their sights and began to hit from a distance. So soon there was nothing left of CSKA’s lead, and the Krasnodar team took the lead. And then, it seemed, they completely sped off into the distance, and the prospect of defeat becoming almost inevitable loomed before CSKA. After all, after Jaylen Burford’s killer sniper shot, the hosts’ lead reached 10 points. This is about three and a half minutes before the siren. Now CSKA needed some kind of superhero who would come and save everyone. He came. And his name was Nikita Kurbanov. It was he who, at the most important moment, made two long-range hits in a row, and then blocked the match shot for Kirill Elatontsev, who had almost shoved the ball into the hoop. These three episodes seemed to become a kind of secret code that drowned out Lokomotiv-Kuban. The hosts could still win, but in the last seconds they somehow limply let Trimble under the hoop, who evened the score and sent the game into overtime. Well, there CSKA simply finished off a completely exhausted opponent. The army team won – 96:82.
A day earlier, UNICS lost to Parma on the road, and also in a crazy ending, which means that Kazan and CSKA were again equal in number of victories. UNICS retained first place in the standings, but it is ahead of CSKA only in additional indicators.
VTB United League Championship. Second phase
Parma—UNICS 82:80. Lokomotiv-Kuban—CSKA 82:96 (overtime). “Zenit” — “Yenisey” 98:91 (overtime).
Tournament table
I V P % points
Group A
1. UNICS 30 23 7 77
2. CSKA 30 23 7 77
3. Zenit 30 21 9 70
4. Lokomotiv-Kuban 30 20 10 67
5. Parma 30 18 12 60
6. “Yenisei” 30 16 14 53
Group B
1. Uralmash 31 18 13 58
2. “Samara” 30 16 14 53
3. Avtodor 31 15 16 48
4. “Rune” 30 12 18 40
5. “Astana” 30 11 19 37
6. MBA 31 10 21 32
7. Nizhny Novgorod 32 10 22 31
8. Minsk 31 0 31 0
Group A is played by the teams that took the first six places at the end of the first stage, in Group B – those that took places from 7th to 14th. The points scored in the first stage are taken into account.
Group A teams guaranteed themselves participation in the playoffs. The four best teams in Group B based on the results of the second stage will play in the play-in stage for the two remaining places in the play-offs. The quarterfinal series will go up to three victories, and the semifinals and finals will go up to four.
[ad_2]
Source link