Tomorrow, on February 15, «Astana» will play a game on a road in the VTB United League. «Lokomotiv-Kuban», a team from Krasnodar, hosts our team.
The current opponent has an extensive list of trophies. «Loco» is the winner of the European Cup — 2012/13, the silver medalist of the VTB United League — 2012/13, besides the club has a lot more of other awards.
A well-known Serbian expert Saša Obradović leads the team, he, by the way, coached our defender Robert Lowery in the German team «Alba», too. So far, Lokomotiv ranks second in the Regular Championship standings, giving way only to CSKA Moscow, but this season, Krasnodar had a sensational victory over CSKA at home, with a score of 83:74.
The first game between Astana and Loco has already taken place in December. Astana hosted Locomotive, and in a hard struggle, Krasnodar won with a score of 71:51. Now, it will be even more difficult, considering that the game takes place at Loco court. However, Ilias Papatheodorou's team is ready to play.
Broadcasting of the match is available on «Kazsport» channel at 22.50 pm, and VTB United League website at 23.00 pm, Astana time.
Russian «Lokomotiv Kuban» defeated «Astana» with the score of 67:59 (20:18, 12:17, 17:15, 18: 9)
The hosts could not find their game in attack for three-quarters: Astana was fighting with their own weapons, using effective defence tactics. Astana used the errors of Loco, provoking them one loss after the other. Guests, in contrast to the «Loco», were much more accurate in their tree-point shots. However, at the end of the third quarter, the hosts made a breakthrough, with Evgeniy Baburin dramatically finishing a quarter with a three-point shot simultaneously with a buzzer, and closing the score difference to «-1» (49:50). After that, Krasnodar finally went into high gear- dropping two «bombs» in a row from the Mardi Collins and Ryan Brockhoff has put Astana in the position of catching up. Guests tried to improve, but the next Loco leap, which was started by Kevin Jones, decided the game: 10-points difference was insurmountable for the players of Ilias Papatheodorou.
The most productive:
«Lokomotiv Kuban»: Kevin Jones (22 + 5 rebounds), Taylor rochestie (9 + 6 assists)
«Astana»: Ian Miller (16), Usman Kruballi (9 + 6 rebounds)
«Lokomotiv Kuban» head coach Sasha Obradovic:
- This was a tough game for us. Astana struggled for three-quarters, just like it happened in their games against CSKA and Khimki on the road. They managed to make a lot of troubles for us. We didn’t start with as much energy as we would like. But once we got more aggressive, it became a lot easier to make shots. I don’t know why we weren’t totally ready, t I’ve even started preparing a little for CSKA and Khimki. I don’t usually do that, but if that’s a justification for some shortcomings, then I’m willing to own up to it. Maybe the players were also starting to think about future opponents.
«Astana» head coach Ilias Papatheodorou:
- Congratulations to «Loko» on their victory! We expected it to be a tough game because Lokomotiv is one of the best teams in Europe, not just in the VTB League. They have been outstanding over the past three months. It was a great honour for us to play on this court against them. We controlled the game for much of the match and played excellent defence as well, but luck was not on our side for the final five minutes. We were playing against a team of a different level and they were better than us in the decisive moments. We gave up a few 3-pointers in a row and weren’t able to complete our own shots. But I’m still proud of my players. We need to keep going; we’ve got a game on Sunday against Tsmoki.
«Astana» will play the next game on a road on February 19 against «Tsmoki Minsk».
