Triple shot: CSKA basketball rewrites United League records

CSKA, led by Andreas Pistiolis, has won the VTB United League for the third year in a row. In 2024, the Army team's championship was perceived with little surprise, as they became only the third in the regular season and changed their head coach a week before the playoffs. In 2025, the club was also not considered a favorite for the final series, but it was able to stop the Zenit star team led by Dwayne Bacon, despite the fact that the blue-white-blues won the regular season and led 2-1 in the finals. This year, CSKA did not allow its success to be doubted at any stage: a 37-3 win-loss ratio in the regular season, and an almost flawless playoff. The Army team lost only the first game of the semifinal series with Lokomotiv Kuban. This was followed by eight consecutive victories. And all were won without nervous endings.

The final is without a chance for the opponent

Melo Trimble took all the major individual awards of the season — the best player of the regular season, the playoffs and the Players Choice Awards, but it would be wrong to call him the sole creator of this success.

Kasper Ware played very consistently and effectively, despite his age. Livio Jean-Charles became the main center after Tony Jackiri left and did a great job in this role. Antonius Cleveland joined the new team perfectly and, even despite the forced pause due to family circumstances, showed himself in all his glory.

Samson Ruzhentsev and Ivan Ukhov entered the top 6 of the best snipers of the team, scoring the most important long-range shots more than once during the season. Anton Astapkovich entered the top 3 in terms of playing minutes. Nikita Kurbanov and Semyon Antonov, veterans of the team, were also on top (their contract has already been extended for the next season). Luka Mitrovic painlessly replaced Jackiri. Yes, maybe the Serbian lacked speed somewhere, but there are no questions for him in the decisive matches.

In general, all the army players played in the playoffs with incredible energy, literally gnawing on the parquet. Even in situations where they led with a comfortable difference.

— We reached a higher level in the playoffs. We felt great about each other, we knew exactly what to do when we went out on the court. This is how the car works," Samson Ruzhentsev told Izvestia.

It is worth paying tribute to the leadership, which has maintained the champion's backbone for several years, and, of course, to head coach Andreas Pistiolis. Under the Greeks, beating CSKA became a celebration for everyone again. Last season, only UNICS was able to win twice against the Muscovites. Velimir Perasovich's team did this in the regular season (both times in Kazan), but they could not impose a fight in the final series.

— In fact, we lost every match without a chance. First of all, it's about untreated injuries. We have half the team playing on injections. CSKA are physically better prepared. It is clear that they keep in the same rhythm throughout the game. For now, we can only produce good segments. One or two quarters, then slow down. It's very difficult to beat CSKA this way," said UNICS forward Mikhail Belenitsky after the third game of the final.

In the fourth game, the situation has not changed dramatically. The hosts fought the favorite on equal terms in the first half, but missed a 2:13 break at the beginning of the third quarter and were unable to return. The rotation was limited due to the absence of Alexei Shved, and Jalen Reynolds played one of the worst games in the playoffs.

Rewritten records

During this playoff, the Army team rewrote many records. For example, 20 three-pointers in a playoff game (the second final game). At the same time, the stability is striking — in the first two matches of the finals, they sent a total of 36 three-pointers to the opponent's basket with almost 50% of the implementation.

11-1 in the playoffs and 4-0 in the finals is also a new record for the United League. Last season, CSKA was 11-2, they lost both matches in the final. Right now, the Army team has only one defeat and a series of eight consecutive wins in the playoffs. And, of course, it is worth recalling that no one had won the final 4-0 before, and the only series that ended in four matches was CSKA – UNICS in the semifinals last year.

Despite the second "dry" defeat in the series from the Muscovites, the UNICS season turned out to be quite successful. The second place in the regular season and especially the strong-willed victory over Zenit in the semifinals (they won 1-3) will go down in history.