Emptiness in the center

Without Olympic champion Volkovyski, Khimki did not resist CSKA

The first match of the super final series of the Russian men's basketball championship CSKA - Khimki ended with a major victory for the army team - 82:59. A repeat meeting at the capital’s arena of the “red-blues” will take place today, and on Saturday the teams will fight in Khimki for the third and possibly last time.

Before the start of the confrontation for the “gold”, yesterday’s rivals played each other three times this season - two matches took place as part of the regular season, and in the second half of April the teams met in the decisive match of the “Final Four” of the Russian Cup at the Khimki site. In all cases, CSKA had the upper hand - with a difference of 11, 19 and three points. The Moscow region club, having secured at least a silver medal in the national championship, and even earlier a ticket to the ULEB Cup 2006/07 for successful performance in the National Cup (CSKA, regardless of the results at the domestic level, has a long-term contract with the ULEB Euroleague), reached the super final liberated.

The main tasks of the season have already been solved, you can measure your strength with the best team in Europe without fear of defeat. Moreover, due to an injury, the “yellow-blues” were missing a key player - Olympic champion Argentine center Ruben Wolkowyski; Italian Gianmarco Pozzecco and Venezuelan Oscar Torres entered the court not entirely healthy. The grueling semi-final series with Dynamo St. Petersburg took a lot of strength and energy from the Khimki team.

On the eve of the first game, Sergei Elevich’s players even refused to try out the army gym, training at their basketball center in the Moscow region. Yesterday, before the big break, the Khimki players made too many turnovers - 11. The red-blues' active defensive actions forced the guests to make inaccurate passes and technical defects. The army team, having tried to take aim from behind the six-meter line, then bet on playing inside the three-second zone - it was more reliable. In the first half of the match, only Zakhar Pashutin scored with accurate long-range shots against CSKA, who converted two out of three attempts. Khimki was forced to build attacks through the perimeter, applying pressure under the opponent’s defense less often than usual. In 20 minutes of net time, only one basketball player from the Moscow region team was able to earn free throws - the black representative of Germany, Ademola Okulaja, who entered the game from the bench.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the army team made an 8:0 spurt and increased their advantage to a dozen points, which they successfully maintained until the third period - 39:27. By this time, the best Russian player in Khimki, Alexander Petrenko, had already received four personal remarks. Then the match proceeded in such a way that there was no special tension usually characteristic of fights of this level. CSKA was ready to improve at any time if necessary; the guests, losing a dozen points before the final quarter, hardly expected to catch up with their opponents. In principle, if the Moscow region club manages to win at least one match in this series, then such a result can already be considered excellent.

Elevich gave the opportunity to all 12 basketball players announced for the meeting, and even center Sergei Karaulov, who almost did not perform in the current playoffs, to take to the court. The match was attended by former army men, now NBA players Andrei Kirilenko and Viktor Khryapa, who watched Karaulov’s actions with some interest. A native of Uzbekistan, two years ago he was drafted by the overseas league club San Antonio Spurs, and it is possible that in a few years he will also join Kirilenko and Khryapa in the North American championship. Although, of course, at the moment he is very much inferior in skill to the ex-army.

A day before the “golden” battle, the series for “bronze” began between Dynamo St. Petersburg and UNICS Kazan. The first game on the banks of the Neva ended in victory for the “blue and white” - 77:60; on Tuesday, success was again on the side of the team of Greek coach Fotis Katsikaris, although in a more difficult fight - 61:59.

Ilya TRISVIATSKY