Can Lokomotiv Kuban stop Umana Venezia winning streak?
On Wednesday, in round 7 of Eurocup will meet two very different teams. On one side we have Venezia, which are in very good shape and Lokomotiv Kuban which are in the worst moment of the season. Will Lokomotiv make a big win in Italy against a team that already beat before, in the second round of Eurocup?
Venezia had some problems at the start of the season, but now they are in a very good form with seven wins in the last nine matches in all competitions. In the last game in Eurocup, they beat Partizan away, a Partizan team that was unbeaten until then. They not only win the game but also made it in a nice fashion with the score 83-69, after an excellent third quarter. After this big match in Serbia, they returned to Italy where they meet another big team in Sassari. In the end, after a low scoring game, they won by 55-54. Venezia won the rebound battle, having more shots attempts than Sassari, but again, they had a low scoring percentage from the 3-point line, scoring only 4 buckets out of 27 attempts. The main contributors were: Mitchell Watt (12 points and 9 rebounds) and Jeremy Chappell (11 points and 5 rebounds), the only players that scored in double-digits. Austin Daye finished the game with 1-12 with 0-7 from the 3-point line.
Lokomotiv Kuban had another type of season so far. They started the season pretty well, but in the last five games, they have only one win, against Zenit away. They lost against Partizan, Tofas and in the last round of Eurocup against Rytas at home, 87-82. In the last game, they meet CSKA Moscow in VTB League but lost the game 81-72. There shooting was very poor, especially thanks to Sam Dekker (1-9) and Dmitrii Kulagin (3-11) and they lost the rebounds battle 42-25. They simply had no chance against Mike James offensive appetite. The main scorers for Lokomotiv were: Will Cummings (19 points and 3 assists), Mantas Kalnietis (15 points and 3 rebounds) and Johnny O’Bryant III (12 points). They added Kuzminskas yesterday but is unclear if he will play in this game.
They meet in the second round when Lokomotiv Kuban won the game 77-63 after an impressive game from Dekker, Kulagin or Cummings, also their defensive game was excellent, winning the rebounds battle and had more steals. But that game was at home and Venezia was in poor form. But this game will have another result with Venezia’s top form and with their fans behind them.
Photo: eurocupbasketball.com
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
