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Registration near Moscow
The new Russian Cup went to Khimki
Khimki broke CSKA's three-year hegemony in the Russian Cup. The Moscow region team, led by Lithuanian Kestutis Kemzura, defeated the “red-blues” with a score of 85:67 in the final match on the floor of the Kazan “Basket Hall”.At the decisive meeting, many spectator seats were empty. Local fans significantly lost interest in the tournament after their beloved UNICS lost to CSKA (50:51) in the last seconds of the semi-finals. The ending of the meeting was partly similar to the battle for gold at the 2007 European Championship. Once again, as before, the key ball was scored by the naturalized American John Robert Holden at the end of regular time. The hosts were very close to creating a sensation, but from a tactical point of view they structured the game incorrectly in the final stretch. In general, the meeting turned out to be out of the ordinary. It is difficult to remember such an ineffective match within the Russian Super League or the National Cup.
The players of the capital's club simply did not have enough strength for the final. And from the outside it was felt that the “red-blues” were fighting at the limit of their capabilities. Too much fatigue has accumulated in the busy schedule of domestic competitions and the ULEB Euroleague calendar. In fact, CSKA has recently become a hostage to its own personnel policy. Having reduced the number of combat-ready Russians in the squad to a minimum (in the Euroleague there is a limit only on non-Europeans, and in the Super League and Cup there can be no more than two foreign players on the court at the same time), the army team faced serious difficulties after center Alexei Savrasenko was injured. Zakhar Pashutin had to spend a lot of time on the court, although when Alexey was healthy, the veteran plays very rarely.
As for Anatoly Kashirov, Nikita Kurbanov and Alexey Shved, despite their unconditional talent, they are not yet ready to solve the most serious tournament problems at this level. And 2007 European champion Anton Ponkrashov, who could be so useful to CSKA in the absence of a number of injured basketball players (Savrasenko, Vorontsevich, Slovenian Smodis), plays for Khimki on loan. Yesterday he scored 16 points for his team (Anton has a contract with the army club until 2010), being the third most successful among the winners.
In the final, not only the title was at stake, but also a new trophy, commissioned by the RBF by Italian jewelers. According to our data, when defining the task for the season, the Khimki management set the players and coaching staff the following task - to win one of three tournaments, that is, the national championship. National Cup or European ULEB Cup. “Khimki” has consistently entered the elite in recent years, but there has not yet been a single serious trophy in the club museum. Now the beginning has been made.
There were only two home-grown players in the starting lineups of the teams participating in the finals. Although the mandatory quota for Russians (at least two) was met. Recently, Khimki also has its own “new Russian” - American Kelly McCarthy. In women's basketball, we are already creating competition for the only “legionary” position in the national team (you can only use one naturalized player), it seems that this process will soon affect the current European champions.
CSKA gained a ten-point advantage at the beginning of the second period, when army center David Andersen made an accurate throw from behind the six-meter line - 26:16. Maciej Lampe helped Khimki reduce the gap, shooting from the three-point arc. By the big break, the favorite's lead was precarious - 37:35.
Usually in the Euroleague, the army team plays hard in the third quarter, which in modern basketball is considered key for determining the result. Yesterday, this particular segment became fatal for the team of Italian coach Ettore Messina. Khimki won it with a difference of 15 points - 23:8. The most notable figures for the triumphants were Lampe (23 points), Daniel Ewing (18), McCarthy (16) and Ponkrashov. The basketball players from the Moscow Region took full revenge from CSKA for their defeat in the recent Super League match, although they could have won last week if Ewing had not missed from under the shield at the very end.