One for all: top clubs confidently passed the first round of the playoffs

This season, the difference between Zenit, CSKA, UNICS, Lokomotiv Kuban and the other clubs in the tournament is enormous. During the entire long regular season (44 matches), clubs from St. Petersburg and Kazan lost only to direct competitors (five and eight times, respectively), the Army team stumbled once in Nizhny Novgorod, but Krasnodar lost three times to Parma, twice to Uralmash (the second game with a semi-reserve team) and once to the already dismantled Samara.". But Loko did not lose against the top clubs in any season series (2:2 against Zenit and CSKA, and 3:1 against UNICS). We predicted the hardest series of the first round for Andrey Vedishchev's wards. And so it turned out.

Fatal removal

Jeremiah Martin and company confidently took the second match of the series in Krasnodar and, it would seem, took away the advantage of their parquet floor from the favorite. But then there was a misunderstanding.

— One team flew [to Yekaterinburg] by charter from a closed airport in Krasnodar, the second team traveled for two days. Somehow, the last group, the Russians, flew to training at six in the evening on the eve of the third game. As it turned out, we lost 100% in logistics. Physiology is a very precise science, we can assume that this is an excuse, but it still needs to be taken into account," said Rostislav Vergun, Uralmash's mentor.

The hosts lost the third match of the series by a margin of -44. In the VTB League playoffs, only Astana (-45 and -50 against CSKA in 2015) and Yenisei (-49 against Zenit in 2022) were more defeated. After such a shock, it was almost impossible to gather for the fourth match. But Uralmash surprised me. The Ural basketball players played a great first half, going into the break with an advantage of +13. However, at the beginning of the second half, team leader Javonte Douglas was sent off for arguing with the referees, and without the American, the hosts could not cope with the long Loko bench (Haydon Dalton also missed the game due to injury). The leadership qualities of Patrick Miller and Anton Kvitkovsky allowed Krasnodar to pick up the ending and avoid the decisive fifth match.

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In other pairs, the favorites had enough minimum number of matches to reach the semifinals. Zenit defeated Parma as the winner of the regular season, and blue-white-blue team leader Dwayne Bacon turned on the playoff mode. The forward scored 20+ points in three matches and is still the most productive player of the playoffs.

"It's at this point in the season that I have to show my best game," Bacon said in a conversation with Izvestia. — I can't make three-pointers (6/21), but in the end I still stay aggressive and go on the attack. You know, at this time of the season, it's not about statistics anymore, the main thing is to win.

It should be noted that each victory in the playoffs is marked by the blue-white-blue players with a magnetic card on a special board in the locker room, and one of the players gives a short speech (continuation of the general concept of the season "Team chemistry"). After the first victory over Parma, captain Sergey Karasev spoke, after the second — Trent Fraser, after the third — Georgy Zhbanov. It looks impressive.

Now Zenit has to play with Loko. Their series will begin in St. Petersburg on May 5 and 7.

Performances by Melo and Hilliard

There was no competition in the two remaining quarterfinal pairs either. Avtodor, who sensationally finished sixth in the regular season with the lowest budget among Russian clubs, lost all three matches to UNICS with a difference of 15+ points. Perhaps the most memorable moment for Saratov in the playoffs was the presentation of the award to Caleb Agade for the best performance of the season. In the match against Astana on October 30, the Canadian defender collected a triple-double (19 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds) — the 10th in the history of the VTB League, the first and the only one since 2022.

UNICS effectively used this series to help the newcomers to the team, Darren Hilliard and Marcos Keen, adapt Velimir Perasovich to the system. Keane became one of his team's most productive players in the second game (18 points and seven assists), and Hilliard shone in the third match with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Darren's confrontation against his former club is one of the most interesting plots of the upcoming UNICS semi—final with CSKA. The American forward spent two seasons with the Army, becoming a champion of the United League and a participant in the Euroleague Final Four, worked with Andreas Pistiolis and will certainly have a special attitude towards these matches. This should help UNICS, considering that they lost three out of four matches to the Muscovites in the regular season.

Before the third victory: what to expect from the United League playoffs

Zenit, CSKA and UNICS are unlikely to experience problems, Uralmash is ready to give battle to Loko

After an unsuccessful finish in the regular season (they lost in St. Petersburg and Kazan), CSKA prepared for the playoffs behind closed doors, and it bore fruit. The Army team confidently beat Paris NN, which lost a number of key players by the end of the season, and got enough time to prepare for the most important series. Melo Trimble should be singled out as part of the army. The MVP of last season's finals series played at full strength, showing that he is still the main attacking weapon of the reigning champions.

The CSKA and UNICS series will begin in Moscow on May 6 and 8.