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Ural Great's entry into European competition no longer depends on the results of the playoffs
The semifinal stage of the Russian championship among men's teams started with a match between the silver medalist, winner of the 2008 National Cup Khimki and Perm Ural Great. The hosts, led by Lithuanian coach Kestutis Kemzura, won at the Moscow site - 101:78.For Ural Great, which took sixth place in the regular Super League championship, the mere fact of entering the quartet of the strongest teams in the knockout tournament is already more than a serious success. Last season, for example, the Permians did not make it to the playoffs at all, and the last time they played in the semifinals was four years ago. The Ural club found itself in a difficult situation after the February flight from Perm of Croatian coach Drazen Anzulovich and his assistants, who terminated their contract ahead of schedule without any justification. The uncivilized act was explained simply - Anzulovich received a more advantageous offer from the Belgian Charleroi, where he signed an agreement for a period of one and a half years.
The actions of the Ural Great basketball players in the remaining matches of the championship and FIBA Cup were led by the former player of this team and its captain Roman Dvinyaninov, assisted by Alexey Pegushin, who was in the club as an administrator, who also played for Perm in the recent past. But the most important thing is that the general manager of the club, Sergei Belov, the most successful Russian coach, who twice led our team to “silver” at the World Championships (1994, 1998), almost completely switched to the team’s gaming problems, and during matches he was on the bench next to Dvinyaninov, and the master’s help turned out to be invaluable. Dvinyaninov noted at one of the press conferences: “Victory in the series over UNICS Kazan and reaching the semifinals is a huge achievement of Sergei Alexandrovich.”
“Ural-Great” has already jumped above its head, making the most of its current capabilities, and it will be very difficult for the Urals to face “Khimki” on equal terms, as yesterday’s match confirmed. In terms of player selection, the guests are clearly inferior to the Moscow region team. Although on their site in the presence of 5-6 thousand fans, Permians are capable of any surprises and sporting feats. So there is no certainty yet that this series of up to three wins will take place in a minimum format.
With approximately equal performance in mid- and long-range shots, Khimki outperformed their opponents in free throws, where they were close to ideal - out of 31 attempts, 30 goals hit the target. That's a fantastic 97%. The Urals, who often received personal remarks, missed eight free throws out of 20. The best scorers of the meeting were Khimki players Kelly McCarthy and Maciej Lampe (22 points each), while Roman Khamitov scored 17 points for the guests.
A repeat match between the rivals will take place today, but the series between CSKA and the capital's Dynamo will start on May 9, since the army team only arrived in Moscow on Monday from the victorious Final Four of the ULEB Euroleague. The “red-blues” will also compete in this tournament next year, where Russia has only one place. Khimki, as the winner of the Russian Cup, will play in the ULEB Cup. Dynamo also have a guaranteed ticket to participate in these competitions, since they came third in the April Final Eight. The format of the second most important European tournament has not yet been approved, so it is unclear how many teams Russia will be allowed to delegate - two or more (last season there were four). Therefore, Ural Great’s entry into the international arena does not depend in any way on the sporting results of the rest of the playoffs. It is possible that even with the medals of our championship, the Permians will again have to compete in the low-prestige FIBA-Europe Cup.