We lose to Loko in the first final match

Main team news

06.05.2023

Lokomotiv-Kuban, which had a little more time to recover before the final, took advantage of freshness and scored 10 points in a row in the middle of the 4th quarter, running away to the maximum «+14» 2:56 before the buzzer (67:81).

In the final minutes, the basketball players of UNICS immediately after the hardest series with Zenit, didn't have enough strength, time and emotions to eliminate the double-digit gap - 76:88 we suffer defeat in the opening match of the final marathon of the VTB United League to 4 wins.

Today, the visitors were better on the boards (41 against 30 on rebounds) and scored twice as many three-pointers (10 to 5). The whole fight for the title is ahead. Let's draw conclusions and get fully involved in the series from Monday! We are waiting for everyone in the stands of the Basket Hall!

UNICS (Kazan) – Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar) – 76:88 (23:22, 14:20, 22:21, 17:25).
UNICS: Macon (16), Dimitrijevic (13+5 assists), Labeyrie (11+5 rebounds), Hunter (11+6 rebounds).
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Barford (17+5 rebounds), Akun-Purcell (12), Horton (11+12 rebounds).

POSTGAME COMMENTS:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«First of all, I congratulate Lokomotiv-Kuban on the victory. Today they showed a good game and deprived us of the advantage of the home court. It is important to understand where we made a mistake, draw conclusions and correct the situation. I think the game was decided by energy and rebounds. We failed to stop the opponent on our board and allowed them to score a lot of second chance points. In the final quarter, Lokomotiv-Kuban managed to break away in the score and secure a victory. We need to find a way to cope with such energy and rigidity of the opponent».

Andrey VORONTSEVICH, BC UNICS forward:

«Congratulations to Lokomotiv. They really deserved to win today and definitely showed themselves better than us - both in terms of the game itself and in terms of indicators: rebounds and assists. The number of unforced errors is the same for the teams, but rebounds and assists predetermined our defeat».

Alexander SEKULIC, BC Lokomotiv-Kuban head coach:

«Of course, I am happy with the result. It is always extremely important to start a series with a victory, especially away. It was a very interesting game. Both teams started hard, with concentration and attitude. I think the key was the team defense. To win against a team like UNICS, you need to defend well. I hope we will continue in the same way».