Two Semifinals and two 5th-8th places games will be in Moscow on Saturday.
Semifinals of the 5-8th place:
MBA (Moscow, Russia) vs. CSKA (Moscow, Russia)
Time: 11:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
MBA: The Moscow team played against a foreign opponent that does not represent a CIS country for the first time in club history. MBA showed a character at the start of the game against Fenerbahce, but the Turkish grandee was stronger. The team gained valuable experience and will continue to work in that direction in the game against CSKA. Vasily Karasev has already said that he doesn’t plan to use his key players for 40 minutes in the remaining SuperCup games, so we expect some experiments and a wide rotation from MBA.
CSKA: The Army team came to the game against Lokomotiv Kuban without Melo Trimble, and lost Livio Jean-Charles and Anton Astapkovic in the Quarterfinals. Even the spectacular Casper Ware, who set the SuperCup and career high in points (44), was injured. If important players are out, CSKA could have serious problems in the Moscow derby against a team that relies on depth, players rotation and a high rhythm. There’s no doubt that the Army team will fight for win in any way. The 5th-8th place game will be a rehearsal for CSKA and MBA before the opening game of the League season, in which they will be rivals once again.
UNICS (Kazan, Russia) vs. Besiktas (Istanbul, Turkey)
Time: 14:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: Start, League website
UNICS: The reigning champion came to the SuperCup with the best hopes, but failed to fulfil the plan – the Kazan team unexpectedly lost in the first round to Pari NN. Velimir Perasovic stated that Nizhny Novgorod outperformed his team in all aspects and won deservedly. Now UNICS will probably switch to pre-season mode and in the remaining games will focus on rotation players.
Besiktas: The Turkish club put up a decent resistance to Zenit on Friday, losing by only 3 points. Dusan Alimpijevic team will face another Russian grandee – UNICS. Of the 69 total team points against the St. Petersburg team, 34 came from the starting five and another 35 from the bench. We should expect that with the Kazan team, Besiktas will utilise the squad and will impose a battle on their opponents.
Semifinals:
Fenerbahce (Istanbul, Turkey) vs Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar, Russia)
Time: 17:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: Start, Match! Igra, League website
Fenerbahce: The Turkish team came to the SuperCup as one of the main favourites and confirmed it on Thursday, when they showed their class and power against MBA. Jonathan Motley, the former idol of the Krasnodar team fans, was Fener top scorer (21 points), and his rivalry with his former teammates will add intrigue. Back in Moscow, Dimitris Itoudis spoke excitedly about the long-awaited communication with his former CSKA colleagues. Now, with two steps away from the trophy, it’s time to remind him of his coaching skills. In a matchup with a dangerous opponent, the Greek specialist will try to brighten up his comeback with another win.
Lokomotiv Kuban: After defeating CSKA in a great game and without Jaylen Barford and Zakhar Vedischev, Loko is clearly not going to rest. Aleksander Sekulic has already said that the Krasnodar team will approach the game with Fener as underdogs, but that shouldn’t be a problem. The Slovenian coach pointed out the main reason for their success in the Quarterfinal against the Army team was dedication and spirit. Without those ingredients, it won’t be easy for the team against the Euroleague participant, but they’re always ready to do feat of arms.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) vs. Zenit (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: Start, Match! Strana, League website
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Despite major upgrades in the squad and the absence of Bryon Allen, Nizhny added another piece to their collection of defeated top clubs. Russian veterans Dmitriy Khvostov (18 points, his highest scoring game since 2019) and Andrey Vorontsevich have performed well. A spoonful of tar was the injury of the team newcomer Aleksa Novakovic. According to Zoran Lukic, the assignment for the game was to take a step up. Now the Volga team will try to make another one.
Zenit: The win over Besiktas was not easy (+3), but the team is in the Semifinals. Another good news is that Thomas Heurtel has recovered from his injury and is back. Zenit did a good job on the market in the offseason, and the result was evident on Friday: five players scored 10 or more points. It’s very hard to say who in the St. Petersburg team will be the biggest threat. Now Zoran Lukic will have to think about this difficult question.
