CSKA dismantled Lokomotiv Kuban 100:81 on the road in Semifinals Game 3, a victory driven by Casper Ware’s best scoring night of the playoffs and a season-high performance on the efficiency board.
Ware finished with 31 points, a 29 PIR season high, plus three assists and two rebounds, the sort of line that flipped momentum and left the series tilted: CSKA now leads 2-1.
The game opened with CSKA jumping to a 9:3 advantage after Ivan Ukhov buried a three, and the visitors closed the first quarter up 23:18. Lokomotiv answered several times — Kirill Temirov forced a steal and scored on the ensuing counterattack to knot the contest — but at halftime CSKA owned a sliver of an edge, 42:43.
In the third quarter Lokomotiv grabbed the initiative when Temirov hit from the corner and put his team ahead 58:54. CSKA, however, reclaimed control by the end of the period, leading 62:65, and held the margins through a late sequence that could have swung the night. Patrick Miller’s fade-away at the end of the 38th minute put Lokomotiv up 80:79, but Trimble’s free throws in the final minute nudged CSKA into an 83:80 lead and the visitors pulled away to the 100:81 finish.
The raw numbers underline why this result matters now: a road win in a semifinal is more than one game won. CSKA’s 100 points and Ware’s 31 made Game 3 the turning point in a series that had already seen Lokomotiv claim an earlier extra time victory, a reminder that the matchups here are volatile and that leads are fragile.
Context sharpens the consequence: this was not a simple home loss. The semifinal series between these clubs had featured tight quarters and lead changes — 23:18 after the first, 42:43 at the break, and 62:65 at the end of three — and Lokomotiv’s earlier extra time win showed the series can swing in either direction. Now, with CSKA ahead 2-1, the balance has shifted to the road team’s favor.
The tension in the result is plain. Despite Ware’s breakout, the match contained moments that undercut a clean narrative of dominance: Lokomotiv led late at 80:79, and the scoreboard flashed close margins throughout, including stretches such as 73:77 and 78:79. That stubborn competitiveness means a single strong performance from either side could reframe the series overnight.
For Lokomotiv Kuban the questions are immediate and practical: how to stop Ware and how to close out tight late-game situations that tonight slipped away when Trimble’s free throws pushed CSKA ahead. For CSKA, the challenge is different and perhaps harder to name — can the team translate this road victory into consistent control, or will the pendulum swing back to Kuban’s favor in the next game?
The single most consequential unanswered question after Game 3 is whether CSKA can sustain the offensive balance that produced 100 points away from home, because if Ware’s performance proves repeatable and the supporting cast remains efficient, the series may not return to even footing. If Lokomotiv solves those late-game fractures first, Game 3 will look like a hiccup rather than a hinge.
Whichever way it goes, the scoreboard from this night is simple and stark: 100:81, a road win that moved CSKA into a 2-1 lead and left Lokomotiv Kuban with the task of responding to a breakout performance in a tightly contested semifinal.
