When will the coach-president’s team finally lose?
Nikita Biryukov October 21, 2024, 15:00 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Historic series of “Lokomotiv-Kuban” in the United League! But there are serious rivals ahead. Very serious.
Lokomotiv-Kuban is the most interesting club at the start of the 2024/2025 United League season. The Krasnodar team changed completely, however, the changes were beneficial, as the Kuban team not only broke several records, but also showed impressive play. If it was difficult to judge based on three or four games, after the victories over Zenit, Uralmash and UNICS, it was time to talk about Loko.
Detailed analysis of the game with the participation of Loko:
How did Lokomotiv-Kuban become the leader of the United League? Analysis of the victory over Zenit
Although Lokomotiv-Kuban defeated UNICS with a seemingly small lead – 78:71, the score does not reflect everything that happened on the court. President-coach Andrei Vedishchev’s players controlled the course of the game throughout the match, not allowing the opponent to get closer to 10 points. Everyone on the team fulfilled their duties 110%. Anton Kvitkovskikh probably played the best game of his career: 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot with an efficiency of “+21”, the best in the Club. At one point, the difference on the scoreboard reached 20 points: 71:51!
There was a slight loss of concentration and thus Loko allowed UNICS to close the huge gap. However, the game is already done. Vedishchev pays great attention to Russian basketball players, who receive a lot of playing time, despite having top-level players by United Legionnaire League standards. BJ Johnson and Antonius Cleveland instantly fit into the lineup. While Johnson focuses more on offense and scoring in a variety of ways, Cleveland is a super-athletic two-way player who can be a difference-maker on both ends of the floor, as he showed early in the regular season.
Patrick Miller revealed himself in a different way in the lineup, one of the leading positions in the club is occupied by Andrey Martyuk. In turn, Kirill Elatontsev, Kirill Temirov and Vladislav Yemchenko help perfectly from the bench and not only do they not give up, but in some matches they almost become the main stars. And Carvel Anderson, the team’s regular sniper, was also wounded. What would happen to the opponents if Carvel was on the court? It’s scary to think about it.
Andrey Vedishchev
Photo: Press service of the VTB United League
Lokomotiv won eight games in a row in the United League – this is the club’s second best streak in history at the start of the Championship. Everyone had doubts after the team stopped cooperating with Aleksandar Sekulic and appointed an inexperienced specialist, who, although he worked at the club as president, had never been on the training bridge. Now Vedishchev has updated the record among debuting Russian coaches. Previously, Vladimir Rodionov managed to win seven victories in a row with Avtodor.
And overall, Vedischev became the fourth debutant coach in history to achieve eight wins in a row at the start of the championship. Previously, Javier Pascual (Zenit, eight wins), Sasa Obradovic (Lokomotiv-Kuban, nine wins) and Ainars Bagatskis (Nizhny Novgorod, 10 wins) achieved it. The current Kuban coach can rewrite the history of all United League coaches, not just the Russian ones. But in the future their players will have matches with Nizhny Novgorod, which currently occupies third place in the championship, and with CSKA, the current champion and second place in the 2024/2025 season.
In general, to put it mildly, very strong opponents stand in the way of Lokomotiv-Kuban and Vedishchev. Will the coach-president’s team lose in these games or will they continue to make history before our eyes? The first test is scheduled for October 24, when the Kuban team will play against Nizhny.
