“Lokomotiv-Kuban” proceeded through Moscow – Kommersant
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Basketball club “Lokomotiv-Kuban” became the author, perhaps, of the biggest sensation of the entire sports season in Russia. Krasnodar beat the mighty, seemingly invulnerable CSKA, in the semi-final play-off series of the VTB United League championship. The seventh match of the insane confrontation between the railroad and the army became the decoration of the entire no less insane series. The guests snatched victory in overtime with a score of 103:100. Thus, Lokomotiv Kuban for the second time in its history goes to the final, and CSKA will not play in the decisive series for the first time.
The semi-final series between CSKA and Lokomotiv-Kuban is a classic case of mismatch between expectations and reality. But only with a plus sign. Who could have imagined that the intersection of CSKA, which had an almost flawless regular season, and Lokomotiv-Kuban, which was limping on half of the wheel sets for most of the season, would, without exaggeration, provide an ideal sports product, which the organizers of the competition probably dream of in rainbow dreams? One could, of course, recall that CSKA has not been a champion for a year now, since in last year’s finals he gave the title to Zenit, losing to him in another furious seven-match series, concluding from this something banal from the series – anything can happen. But, firstly, Zenit is practically not inferior to CSKA in terms of financial capabilities (the budgets of the Moscow and St. Petersburg teams for the 2021/22 season are 2.8 billion and 2.43 billion rubles, respectively), and the budget of Lokomotiv-Kuban much more modest – 1.3 billion rubles. Secondly, it was with the railwaymen that the army team, even when they were at their peak, always coped. And in the final in 2013, which CSKA won with a score of 3:1, and in the quarter-finals in 2014, when CSKA, suddenly losing two matches in a row, then gave out a series of three victories and went further for the title. Even in the Final Four of the Euroleague 2016, CSKA also appeared on the path of the Lokomotiv-Kuban roster, which was then considered the “golden”, rushing to the European peak, and then became the winner of the European Cup. And there seemed to be no real reason to believe that this time it would be different. But then, as they say, something went wrong.
In this series, in what the Krasnodar team performed, it is not even the purely basketball aspects of their game that surprise, but how the team of Alexander Sekulich held the blow. Or rather, blows. She didn’t even think to unstick after the unsuccessful start of the series in Moscow and immediately answered with her injection. And already in Krasnodar, CSKA made CSKA feel real discomfort, moving the army team into the category of catching up. CSKA answered in the fourth game, but in the fifth, and again in Moscow, got a slap in the face (minus 20) and already a real chance to fly out of the tournament. We must give the army team their due – they returned to the series, in the sixth match, simply blowing Lokomotiv out of the way. It remained quite a bit – not to stumble at home, in Megasport.
Fans of the teams will surely remember the ups and downs of the decisive confrontation of the series for a long time to come. CSKA fans will remember how their team changed after an equal starting quarter and led by Alexei Shved, who for a while turned into that very “classic” Shved, able to get the most out of almost any situation, gave out a shock quarter two (25:14) and led “plus 8 “. About how good and vulnerable Devonte Kaykok was at the same time. On the one hand, he has 15 points and 9 rebounds – a strong compensation for the fact that the main big CSKA Nikola Milutinov is not in the best shape after the injury. On the other hand, Kaycock only made 5 of 12 free throws. Working from the spot was never his forte at all, but if he hit at least two-thirds of the free throws, a completely different story could happen in Megasport, which gathered 8.5 thousand spectators. Army fans will remember Samson Ruzhentsev’s selfless play, Dallas Moore’s long-range shots, which seemed to hit the Krasnodar steam locomotive right into the cauldron, and Casper Weir’s paint run, which had to be stopped by fouls. But they will do all this with bitterness. But the fans of Lokomotiv-Kuban have probably already forgotten about the nerves that their team made them spend and remember only the good and most importantly – they won.
And after all, the guests, after CSKA dealt them a powerful blow in the second ten minutes, staggered. They either gave out excellent segments, then suddenly made ridiculous mistakes. For a very long time they could not establish long-range shots. At times, the team suddenly forgot how to break through the army defenses. But every time Sekulich had the hero of the episode, who changed the situation. Andrey Martyuk, who set a good tone at the beginning of the match, and Chris Horton, who literally shoved a stubborn ball into the army basket, and Okaro White, who seemed to be not too bright, but at the same time scored 21 points, and Jaylen Burford, who did not have enough -some centimeters to become the sole hero of the match. At the end of the fourth quarter, Burford was, as they say, on fire. He was everywhere and everything. In the last seconds, he flew and carried the ball in his hand into the ring. But for some reason, he missed, which sent the match into overtime.
And by that time the guests began to run out of heroes. Barford, Devon Akun-Purcell, Vladislav Yemchenko, and Dmitry Uzinsky sat down on the bench to the injured Martyuk due to too many fouls. Anton Kvitkovskikh walked under the threat of disqualification. But the hero was found again – Alexander Shcherbenev. His long-range shot and then impeccable work in the execution of free throws (there were plenty of them in overtime) provided Lokomotiv-Kuban with a six-point lead half a minute before the siren. His guests had enough to win with a score of 103:100. The victory is not formally historical (after all, the railway workers have already played in the final), but emotionally, of course, perceived just like that. But for CSKA, the loss in the semifinals is indeed a unique event. Never before in the entire 14-year history of the VTB United League have the army team gone past the final and only twice remained without a title (2011, 2022).
The second finalist will be determined on May 2 in Kazan, where UNICS will host Zenit in the seventh match of the series.
President of Lokomotiv-Kuban Andrey Vedischev: now the goal is to win the final
It was a very tough match. We played for more than two and a half hours, and even overtime lasted fifteen minutes. I couldn’t wait for the time to run out! Nerves, nerves, nerves. I thought there were no more emotions left, but no, there are still and do not end.
We are happy. We beat the strongest club. This is very cool. We will celebrate, of course, but in four days the first game of the finals, so first of all, everyone needs to calm down. Now we are waiting for an opponent. With whom to play – Zenit or UNICS – it’s not so important. Opponents are not chosen. We need to think about how we will be ready. All in our hands. Yes, we have not been in the final for a long time, and the current success is a great achievement. But now the goal is to win the final.
It is gratifying that today we were ready, first of all, mentally. What happened in the sixth match of the series did not break the team, it was able to get together and show character. We knew the team had it. I also want to note that the Russian basketball players of the team showed themselves well. Andrey Martyuk, Anton Kvitkovskikh, Vladislav Yemchenko, Alexander Shcherbenev. I am very happy for Sasha, he fired at the right time. Well, where without the fans. We heard them very well today, they are the best for us, they gave us energy to win, and there is not much of it, especially in the seventh match of the series.
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