UNICS will play against Zenit in the Semifinals up to 4 wins.
Series Schedule
Game 1 – April, 16, 14:00 (Moscow time) in Kazan
Game 2 – April 18, 19:30 (Moscow time) in Kazan
Game 3 – April 21, 20:00 (Moscow time) in St. Petersburg
Game 4 – April 23, 14:00 (Moscow time) in St. Petersburg
Game 5 – April 26, 20:00 (Moscow time) in Kazan (*)
Game 6 – April 29, 14:00 (Moscow time) in St. Petersburg (*)
Game 7 – May 2, 20:00.(Moscow time) in Kazan (*)
(*) – if necessary
Regular season
UNICS: 2nd place (24-8)
Zenit: 3rd place (23-9)
Rivalry
UNICS and Zenit have a good rivalry history in the Playoffs. The teams have played 3 times in the past 8 years.
The Kazan and St. Petersburg teams had the first Series in 2016. Back then, Zenit was incredibly close to their first final, coming back from 0-2 down. The fifth and decisive Semifinal game was in Kazan: Zenit led in the first half, but failed in the third quarter (14:28) and eventually lost both the game and the series.
In the 2017/18 season, UNICS defeated the St. Petersburg team twice in the regular season, and the game in Kazan was the season opener. It ended with the largest 34-point difference. Zenit’s revenge was sweet: win in the game for the third place in the Final Four (93-79).
Last season the teams played 6 games – Zenit won 5 of them. First, Xavi Pascual team defeated the Kazan team twice in the regular season, then the schedule brought them together in the Semifinals. UNICS opened the scoring, but then Zenit won 3 games in a row, advanced to the Finals and became a Champion.
The teams played 4 games this season and rivalry score is 2:2. During the first round of the regular season, UNICS won twice (82-79 and 95-94), then Zenit took revenge (80-69 and 83-78).
First Round
UNICS
After the All-Star Game 2023, the Kazan team had problems. The team lost 5 of their last 6 games, lost their chances of winning the regular season and even nearly lost second place to Zenit. Nevertheless, in the Quarterfinals UNICS defeated PARMA-PARI – 101:76, 94:59 and 73:52.
If in the first game UNICS allowed their opponent to play fast, they still had to play defense. As a result, the Kazan team let score just 62.3 points on average in the first round.
Zenit
The reigning champion began his title defense against MBA. The League newcomer was the first team to create a sensation in the Playoffs: won their first game in St. Petersburg, making a 14-point comeback in the fourth quarter.
Zenit didn’t give their opponent a chance to win in the remaining games. Zenit managed to tie the Series (87-60), then won twice on the road (86-61 and 99-80). Zenit had their last game without their head coach due to surgery.
Strengths
UNICS
Head coach Velimir Perasovic has been managing UNICS for 2 seasons. The Croatian coach has a system where each player has a exact role. The Kazan team has a clear offensive leader – Daryl Macon, who scored 17.6 points in the regular season. Jalen Reynolds, who has been subbed in nearly every game, is a big contributor off the bench. The coaching staff often uses Georgiy Zhbanov to guard the opponents’ leaders.
It’s important to note that UNICS has a wide rotation: 11 players play an average of 16 minutes or more this season, but only 3 players play more than 25 minutes – Louis Labeyrie (29.2), Daryl Macon (28.2) and Nenad Dimitrijevic (26).
A well-organized system should help the Kazan team in their Series with the reigning champion, which might last 7 games.
Zenit
Zenit is the best defensive team this season, as evidenced by the stats: the reigning champion averaged 72.3 points during the regular season. MBA was the example of it: in 3 of 4 games they failed to score 70 points.
Zenit returns quickly to defense from the offensive possession and very rarely allows their opponents to score easy points on the fastbreak. At the same time, the St. Petersburg team tries to lower the tempo in their own half, slowing down their opponents.
Heurtel Magic
There’s no doubt that Thomas Heurtel is one of the most talented offensive players to ever play in the League. And advanced stats only confirm that: the French guard has the highest field-goal percentage in the League history – 64.8%. That means that almost 65% of all assists this season came from Thomas Heurtel.
текущем сезоне, почти 65% на счету Томаса Эртеля.
Heurtel, by the way, was the best in assist during the regular season: he made 8.6 assists per game.
Scorers duel
Daryl Macon is one of the best scoring players of the season. In the regular season, he was second on the scorer’s list with a 17.6 points per game. The guard had 12 games with 20 or more points, and his season-high is 31 points against Pari NN in November. There’s no doubt that Macon is UNICS’ top offensive option, and his actions will have a direct impact on the Series.
Zenit didn’t have a scorer this good for a long time: back in December, Trey Tompkins was the best scorer scorer in the St. Petersburg team with 10.9 points per game. That all changed when Trent Frazier joined the team. The young guard, who is in his first professional season with Zenit at the end of January and has played in the League for only 12 games, but has already proven to be an outstanding talent. Trent was the best scoring player in his debut league game against CSKA, and he scored 28 points twice against Pari Nizhny in March.
In the Semifinals between UNICS and Zenit, fans can enjoy a duel between strong scorers. Macon has experience in the NBA and the Euroleague, but Frazier has shown in his few months that he can be the joker in Xavier Pasqual squad.
Motivation
Jalen Reynolds is the most motivated player of the Series. After all, his first team in the United League was Zenit, where the forward played in the 2018/19 season and became one of the brightest players in the entire League.
Games versus his former team are important for Jalen and it is evidenced by the stats: the forward was the main hero of the season-opening game in St. Petersburg, scoring 22 points. 2 months later, he had another game against Zenit, where Reynolds scored 26 points and made 6 rebounds.
Fact
UNICS and Zenit have never played up to 4 wins. The St. Petersburg team has experience in long Series: Zenit beat CSKA 4-3 in the 2022 Playoffs.
Family
Kulagin brothers will face off in the Semifinals. The older one, Dmitriy, plays for Zenit, while the younger one, Mikhail, for UNICS. Despite the fact that the brothers play for different teams since 2017, they have never played against each other in the Playoffs.
