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Juventud won the European Cup final against Khimki
The “Final Four” of the European Cup held in Kyiv finally removed all questions in the discussion regarding which of the national championships in the Old World is the strongest. In the decisive match of the tournament, Juventud from the Spanish city of Badalona, which ranks fourth in the championship of its country, defeated Khimki with a difference of 25 points - 88:63. Meanwhile, the Moscow region team is having the best season in its ten-year history and can win medals at the Russian championship for the first time. As for the Spaniards, three teams from the Iberian Peninsula entered the strongest octet of the ULEB Euroleague.It is impossible not to notice that representatives of Spain did not participate in the two previous draws of the main tournament, held under the auspices of the continental branch of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA-Europe), and the Russian teams celebrated the victory. Two years ago, the trophy went to Kazan UNICS, last season the FIBA Euroleague was won by Dynamo St. Petersburg. Since two of our clubs made it to the current Final Four, according to the regulations they were combined into one semi-final pair. The match between St. Petersburg and Khimki left a rather strange impression. Experienced players were overwhelmed with excitement, they acted on the court with a lot of mistakes and attacked the opponent’s hoop with a low percentage of hits. After seven minutes of net time, only ten points were scored through joint efforts - Khimki was in the lead with a score of 6:4.
In the second period, the basketball players from the Moscow region finally scattered, but the St. Petersburg team still didn’t succeed. “Khimki” built a strong defense and by the big break secured a double-digit advantage, allowing the “blue and white” to score only 20 points. However, the St. Petersburg team only needed an incomplete third quarter to improve their unenviable position to +2 from -13. 18 seconds before the siren about the end of regular time of the match, with the score tied, Khimki coach Sergei Elevich took a time out. The completion of the last attack was entrusted to the American Melvin Booker, he missed, but then the Venezuelan Oscar Torres arrived in time, took the rebound on the opponent’s backboard and immediately sent the ball into the basket. The St. Petersburg team was in a state of shock and lost the title, while Khimki rejoiced at the biggest success in the team’s history.
In the second semi-final, the hosts faced severe disappointment. Juventud started with a 14:2 spurt, and a few minutes later they were leading 28:9. The players of BC "Kyiv" only recovered from the initial excitement in the middle of the match and even took the lead at the beginning of the final period. And yet, mainly due to the brilliant play of 21-year-old Rudy Fernandez, recognized as the most valuable basketball player of the Final Four, Juventud still won - 88:78.
In the main match of the tournament, Elevich had to make many substitutions to find the optimal combination of the lineup. Adding to Khimki's game problems was the low free throw conversion rate. In the first half of the match, they accurately completed only seven attempts out of 18, and in total during the game they made 16 misses from the line, while the Juventud basketball players missed free throws only twice out of 19 times. Khimki did not lead for long only in the opening minutes of the meeting, then the Spaniards began to move forward and gradually increased their advantage. The Russian club did not find any counterarguments. The very fact of reaching the final is an indisputable and significant achievement of the Russian club, and one can only regret that the ending of the tournament turned out to be so blurry.
Let us remind you that in the second group stage, Elevich’s team met with Juventud twice, and in the home match, Khimki more than confidently defeated the Spanish club - 95:66. Perhaps, if the final had been two matches, like in the FIBA Challenge Cup, the Moscow Region team would have had a much better chance of overall success. “The main thing for us was to take a step forward compared to last season, when we took third place in the FIBA Euroleague,” said Sergei Elevich. Well, Khimki continued its progress both in terms of play and organization. At least the finalist had the most impressive support group among the visiting teams. The St. Petersburg fan sector looked less colorful, and almost no one was rooting for Juventud.