The VTB United League SuperCup final day will take place in Moscow on Sunday.
Game for 7th-8th place
MBA (Moscow, Russia) vs. UNICS (Kazan, Russia)
Time: 11:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: Start, League website
MBA: The Moscow team started the Quarterfinal with Fenerbahce brightly as they did in their debut League season, but ran into serious problems after the halftime when the powerful opponent began to gain momentum. A similar scenario happened in the Semifinal against CSKA, during which the team also lost Makar Konovalov. Still, MBA stood strong and put up a fight against the Army team – the favorite needed overtime and even a SuperCup record 105 points to win. Igor Kocharyan, the Moscow club General Manager, believes the game was like a playoff game. MBA will continue to gain experience and are sure to once again impress with open and bright basketball against UNICS.
UNICS: The reigning League champion came to the SuperCup to win, but has two losses in two games so far. UNICS head coach Velimir Perasovic promised after the loss to Besiktas (Eric Green and Ivan Lazarev were out due to injuries) that the team would be in a different state of mind for the start of the season. The game with MBA will be part of the process of getting to gain capacity. Last season, all four games between the Kazan and Moscow teams were won by UNICS.
Game for 5th-6th places
CSKA Moscow (Moscow, Russia) vs. Besiktas (Istanbul, Turkey)
Time: 14:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
CSKA: Both CSKA games in the SuperCup ended in overtime. After a frustrating loss to Lokomotiv Kuban, the second was better: the team sen a new SuperCup record – 105 points ( the Army team broke last year’s record (101 points) against Mega) and a win. The Army team players are now under pressure, but as CSKA head coach Emil Rajkovic said that they refuse to get tired.
Besiktas: The Turkish club got great practice at the SuperCup before the new season: loss by 3 points to Zenit, the win over UNICS and, finally, a game with the most titled Russian club. Former Avtodor coach Dusan Alimpijevic is trying to distribute the workload equally, so the Istanbul team should have enough energy to play aggressive basketball. Special attention should be paid to Angel Delgado, who had a powerful double-double in the game against the Kazan team – 16 points and 14 rebounds with 7 of 11 from the game.
Game for 3rd-4th places
Fenerbahce Beko (Istanbul, Turkey) vs. Pari Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia)
Time: 17:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: Start, Match! Igra, League website
Fenerbahce: The main SuperCup favorite started the Semifinal against Loko with 7 of 8 three-pointers. It looked like an end, but the Krasnodar team made a comeback, while Fener failed to adapt to it. The Istanbul team made only 5 of 20 three pointer shots and allowed Loko to made a 14-point comeback in the second half. Dimitris Itoudis left CSKA in 2022 after a loss to Zenit in the League FinasS, and his return to Russia with the SuperCup triumph didn’t work out as well. Now they need to win at least the game for 3rd place.
Pari Nizhny Novgorod: Nizhny handled with UNICS in the Volga derby, but failed to made a second consecutive sensation: loss by 25 points to Zenit. But now Zoran Lukic’s team will have a unique chance to evaluate their potential against a top European club and, perhaps, make another sensation. Newcomer Bryon Allen made his debut for Pari NN on Friday, scoring 8 points and 3 assists in 23 minutes.
Final
Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar, Russia) vs. Zenit (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Time: 20:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, VTB Arena Park
Broadcast: Start, Match! Strana, League website
Lokomotiv Kuban: Loko takes a long time to get into the game in the Supercup – it was so with CSKA and Fenerbahce. As Aleksander Sekulic said after the semifinal, “at first we looked like many of our players forgot to get off the bus”. But once the team gets going, it’s very hard to stop them. The Krasnodar team has almost entirely retained last year’s roster, which made it to the United League Finals – and that’s an important advantage for Loko in the SuperCup, where their opponents continue to try out new roster. In the words of Aleksander Scherbenev after the win over the Turkish grandee, “Loko could make some noise in the Euroleague, too.” One step left to take before winning the trophy.
Zenit: The St. Petersburg team this year can not boast continuity at Loko level, but, as head coach Xavier Pascual noted, “the spirit of the team has remained the same”. Can’t argue with that: Zenit have shown as a pragmatic and well-oiled machine that grinds down their opponents. And it’s hard to call the significant upgrades from the Semifinal with Nizhny – recent newcomers Kyle Kuric (18 points), Bojan Dubljevic (14 points, 5 rebounds) and Vince Hunter (14 points, 11 rebounds) were the best. While Loko is the best offensive team in the SuperCup (102.5 points per game on average), Zenit, on the contrary, is remembered for its solid defense. The St. Petersburg team approaches the Final as the best defensive team (let opponents score 65 points on average). Zenit is determined to retain the SuperCup, but it’s hard to name a clear favorite in the final.
