Is Loko in trouble ahead of the United League season? A Euroleague participant punished Kuban
Nikita Biryukov September 13, 2024, 19:55 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The first sensation in the United League Super Cup or is everything going as expected?
The VTB United League Super Cup is an international tournament organized by the most famous basketball league in Russia. The last round of the group stage started today. Lokomotiv-Kuban Krasnodar and Red Star Serbia met in the opening match on September 13. Who will fight for bronze and who will be content with only fifth or sixth place in the tournament?
Apparently, the team led by Andrei Vedishchev drew lessons from yesterday’s game against CSKA, as Lokomotiv-Kuban scored seven unanswered points in a row at the beginning of the first quarter. Patrick Miller, Antonius Cleveland and Anton Kvitkovskikh scored. Crvena Zvezda relied on long shots and the fight under the basket of its big men. At first it worked so-so, but over time the Serbian team came into action: Uros Plavsic and Cody Miller-McIntyre got involved. The match was tied (14:14) and Giannis Sferopoulos’ team had a great ending, winning the quarter with a score of 23:16.
The video can be viewed on the official VTB United League Telegram channel. The rights to the video belong to the VTB United League.
Once again, the start of the period was in Loko’s hands: a 9:3 run, which included a three-pointer by Isaiah Whaley and six points in a row by BJ Johnson. The situation repeated itself, as the red-and-whites leveled the score thanks to the efforts of Ognjen Dobrich, Plavsic and Jagu dos Santos. Among Krasnodar’s players, one cannot fail to mention Andrei Martyuk, who played a key role both in attack and defense. The center did not pull the rug out from under him, but at the same time remained effective and often hit the opponent’s basket. However, Johnson became the hero of the second quarter. The forward was useful in both halves, standing out primarily for his brilliant runs into the paint. In many ways, it was BJ who allowed Loko to win the quarter with a score of 27:22.
After a long break, the situation changed: the Star started better: they had a 6-2 run and looked great, especially in defense. But what did not change was that each time the opposing team came back into the game instead of letting their opponent get far. This time it was the same. Loko did not stop at Johnson and Miller, who dragged the team along with them. Sferopolous even had to take time out to stop the fervor of the railwaymen, who were serious. The head coach slowed down the opponent’s pace and, most importantly, gave energy to his basketball players. The Serbian club played the final part of the match perfectly and took the quarter with a slight advantage of 18:16.
The video can be viewed on the official VTB United League Telegram channel. The rights to the video belong to the VTB United League.
Before the start of the last quarter, Crvena was leading by six points. During the last ten minutes, the Belgrade team held the lead for a long time. The goalkeepers exchanged effective attacks reluctantly, because the ball treacherously did not hit the hoop. On their part, all players in the match did not have shots from behind the arc. The decisive segment turned out to be less productive than the others. Lokomotiv tried to catch up with the opponent, did not give up, but did not manage to catch up with the opponent. They lost in the quarterfinals by 17:21 and in the match by 76:86.
VTB United League Super Cup. Group A
September 13, 2024, Friday. 17:00 Moscow time
Lokomotiv-Kuban
Krasnodar
red star
Belgrade
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Johnson – 19, Miller – 17, Cleveland – 11, Kvitkovskikh – 10, Martyuk – 8, Whaley – 5, Elatontsev – 3, Yemchenko – 3, Vedishchev, Temirov, Uzinsky, Anderson
Red Star: Dobrich – 20, Plavsic – 16, Miller-McIntyre – 11, dos Santos – 10, Davidovac – 9, Mitrovic – 8, Canan – 5, Lazic – 4, Daum – 2, Kalinic – 1, Ilic, Kostic
In my humble opinion, I can single out Kvitkovsky. The forward was incredibly useful, did not switch off at every moment, protected his teammates in defense, and also grabbed the most rebounds in the Loko lineup. Johnson scored the most points for the Krasnodar Club – 19 points, but it is worth noting that he also spent the most time on the court – 31 minutes. Carvel Anderson failed as part of the Kuban team, not scoring a single field goal in 17 minutes on the court. As part of the Red Star, Dobrich had an impressive match. The forward has 20 points, eight rebounds and the second efficiency indicator in the match (second only to his teammate Uros Plavsic). A bad match by his standards was had by Isaiah Kanaan, who for a long time could not send the ball to the basket, but finished the match with five points. However, this did not prevent the guests from Belgrade from winning the confrontation.
One of the main problems of Lokomotiv is the large number of fouls. The team often could not keep up with the opponent’s “cuts” and exchanges in pick-and-rolls, so they often had to stop opposing players outside the rules. In total, the Krasnodar team committed 31 fouls, and the Serbian club – 22 times. Here is the number of missing points. But the pre-season tournament has such a name – to test your strength in a game with good opponents, and the Euroleague participant can definitely be called that. “Loko” will need more time for Andrei Vedishchev’s developments and tactics to begin to bear fruit. The Krasnodar club will have to play the match for fifth place against Turkish Besiktas, and the Star will compete for bronze with the loser of the UNICS-Zenit pair.
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