By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
24/3/2016 is now a date to be remembered for Lokomotiv Kuban. The Russian team advanced to the Euroleague playoffs for the first time ever in the history of the club, after beating Crvena Zvezda 86 – 62 in Krasnodar.
What is more, they now have the upper hand when it comes to entering the battle for the Final Four with the precious home court advantage, since they covered the 14-point difference with which they had been defeated in Belgrade.
Most players of Lokobasket heavily contributed in this victory, but the trio of Malcolm Delaney (12 points, 9 assists), Anthony Randolph (17 points, 6 rebounds) and Chris Singleton stood out. With the points he scored, the latter also made a new career-high in Euroleague.
Crvena Zvezda didn’t deliver as usual, making way too many turnovers in the first half and succumbing to their opponents’ ongoing pressure in the second. Marko Guduric who scored 13 points and dished 4 assists and Vladimir Stimac, with 9 points and 5 rebounds were probably the best Red Star had to offer.
The game was, more or less, decided in time-frame that expanded from the last four minutes of the first half, to the mid of the third quarter.It was during this period that coach Bartzokas’ players made the best out of their extremely potent defense, translating their increased number of possessions into scoring, especially from behind the arc. Pouring a rain of three-pointers over Crvena Zvezda, Lokomotiv Kuban run a 17 – 7 partial score to end the first half with a double digit advantage. But that was just the beginning.
In their return from the locker rooms, the hosts were determined to finish their job, scoring 14 points in less than six minutes, while receiving six, to make it 59 – 41. That was too much for the Serbian team who lacked the tools needed to push back this unstoppable all-out war brought upon them by their opponents’ qualitative game which spanned on both ends of court.