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Russian teams ruled the roost in the VTB United League
The victory of the capital's army team ended the first championship of the VTB United League, the decisive stage of which took place in Kaunas, Lithuania. Despite the fact that teams from five countries of the former USSR took part in the tournament, it still ended in a purely Russian get-together. All three of our clubs reached the Final Four, two representatives of the Super League met in a fight for the title. CSKA took over UNICS Kazan - 66:55.The long-term plan for the development of the United League implies that these competitions will in the future dominate at least our national championship, which is not of particular interest at the moment. There are now only nine clubs participating in the top division of the Russian championship, which in the long regular season are competing for... eight spots in the playoffs. That is, the sports component is minimal. According to the organizers, the United League was supposed to become a tournament of a higher level than the domestic championships of the post-Soviet states, however, it is not entirely correct to say with full confidence that this task was completed.
Perhaps, Ukraine benefited most from the creation of the United League in terms of popularizing basketball, despite the fact that its clubs were not included in the top four. At the preliminary stage, the arrival in Donetsk of Khimki and UNICS, which have authority on the continental arena, and the visit to Mariupol of the most stable and successful club in Europe of the last decade, CSKA, caused a real stir in these cities. Moreover, the victory of BC Donetsk over Khimki generally caused a storm of genuine delight among local fans. A lot of people gathered in the Estonian capital for the match between the local Kalev and the army team; traditionally in Lithuania, interest was generated by the confrontation between Zalgiris and CSKA, but for most of the other matches there were enough free seats in the halls.
And from a sporting point of view, it is far from a fact that, for example, the Estonian “Kalev”, defeated by the “red-blues” with a difference of 33 points, is stronger than the hopeless Russian outsider St. Petersburg “Spartak”. Basketball players from the banks of the Neva in the super league just gave battle to the champion, the fate of the meeting was decided at the last minute. Nevertheless, all our clubs are satisfied with the level of organization of the United League, consider this tournament necessary and are ready to participate here in the future. The total prize fund was 28 million rubles, that is, close to a million dollars, and the distribution of bonus money took place according to an extremely simple scheme. The winner of each match, whether at the preliminary stage or in the Final Four, received 600 thousand rubles, and the loser received 400 thousand rubles.
The first semi-final in Kaunas Sporthall turned out to be the most interesting match, since our two Euroleague participants, who had already made it to the top 16 there, fought - CSKA and Khimki. Three and a half minutes after the start of the second half of the meeting, there was a smell of sensation - the army team was 11 points behind its main Russian competitor. But, as has happened more than once in matches involving the “red-blues,” they were able to sharply improve in a difficult situation and soon took the lead, making an impressive 16:2 leap. During this period, two accurate long-range shots were made by army player Anton Ponkrashov, who played for Khimki the previous two seasons. The intrigue in the match remained almost until the end of regular time. The question of the winner was removed after 18 seconds before the siren, the Lithuanian legionary of the Muscovites Ramunas Siskauskas converted two free throws and the Russian champion led 69:62. The final score is 71:66.
By the way, the presence of Siskauskas, who is very popular in his homeland, in the ranks of CSKA, the presence of Paulius Jankūnas and Robertas Javtokas in the Khimki squad, and the play for UNICS of Saulius Štombergas, who returned to big-time basketball after a two-year break, had a positive impact on the attendance of the Sporthalle stands. Lithuanian fans who knew a lot about this sport came to see not only their beloved Zalgiris, but also their fellow countrymen playing in Russian clubs.
The hosts of the “Final Four” in the second semi-final could not cope with UNICS, failing (9:19) in the third quarter - 75:65 in favor of the club from the capital of Tatarstan, led by one of the most famous Lithuanian basketball players of all time, the Olympic champion of Seoul - 1988 Valdemaras Homicius. Slovenian attacking defender Alexander Chapin, who fled from Lokomotiv Krasnodar immediately after the dismissal of his fellow countryman head coach Sasho Filipovski, recently began playing for Zalgiris. In the match for third place, the Kaunas team still pleased their fans by defeating the now unmotivated Khimki - 78:72.
A week ago, UNICS inflicted the first defeat on CSKA in the 2009/10 Russian championship, winning in Moscow 94:88. This circumstance gave the final of the United League additional poignancy. The “red-blues” took convincing revenge. The final difference in points (66:55) does not give a complete picture of the game advantage of the army team. Everything was clear already at the end of the 26th minute, when Evgeniy Pashutin’s team crushed the opponent 50:29. Center Alexander Kaun had a great game for the title among the winners - 16 points, and the Kazan team fouled him most often - seven times. Kaun's teammate John Holden was named the Most Valuable Player of the Final Four.