Even a Euroleague participant is not an obstacle! CSKA is the first finalist of the United League Super Cup
Nikita Biryukov September 12, 2024, 22:40 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The military team and Red Star played an excellent match in all aspects.
Basketball is back! The off-season in the United League is coming to an end, which means it’s time for the Super Cup. The 2024 international tournament is represented by clubs from Russia – CSKA, UNICS, Zenit and Lokomotiv-Kuban, as well as foreign clubs – Red Star (Serbia) and Besiktas (Turkey). Just yesterday the army team beat the railwaymen, and today it will have to play against the Euroleague participant, Red Star. Let’s talk about the most interesting events of the most important match. If the Moscow club wins, it goes to the final of the United League Super Cup.
CSKA reserved the first attack and won the first match. Melo Trimble tried to make a layup, but after missing he added the ball to the basket. For Crvena Zvezda, Isaiah Kanaan and Cody Miller-McIntyre stood out from the first minutes: the leaders of the Serbian team were accurate from behind the arc. Then the newcomer to the army Aleksa Avramovic joined, who previously played for Partizan, so he knows a club like Crvena Zvezda very well. The Serbian national team defender tore apart the opponent’s defense with his lightning-fast passes, choosing to attack himself on the way or pass to a free teammate. Most of the time, CSKA brought Trimble to open attempts. The guard spent most of the time on the court and scored eight points. Even when Melo sat on the bench, Casper Ware took the lead, scoring five points in a couple of minutes. 23:11 – the first quarter is in favor of the army team.
How was CSKA’s first match in the tournament?
First test for Andrey Vedishchev. Loko tried, but CSKA showed champion level
“Crvena Zvezda” came to life immediately after a short break. Giannis Sferopoulos’ team had a 6:2 lead, to which another Greek specialist, Andreas Pistiolis, had to respond with a timeout to get the guys back into the game. At first it seemed to be working, but the Serbian team began to act more clearly on both sides of the court. First of all, the top players woke up: Luka Mitrovic, Ognjen Dobrich and Uros Plavsic, who scored 25 points between them. It should be noted that the big men of the Star dominated on the boards: 24 rebounds against 14 for CSKA. Although the Euroleague club played very well for most of the quarter, in the end the team got stuck and lost a lot of points to the army team in just a few minutes. The red-and-blues lost by 23:15.
In just two minutes of the game after leaving the stands, Crvena scored eight points, Kanaan took control, but CSKA players always responded to the opponent’s actions. Avramovic scored six points in a row and the teams exchanged effective attacks for several attacks in a row. Sferopoulos was forced to call a timeout for Ivan Ukhov, who intercepted the opponent’s ball, and on another offensive possession he grabbed the offensive rebound and put the ball in the hoop. The defender did not stop there and scored a three-pointer. CSKA again brought the matter to a double advantage on the scoreboard. However, the quarter ended in a tie (26:26), largely thanks to the excellent start of the quarter by the Serbian club.
The video can be viewed on the official VTB United League Telegram channel. The rights to the video belong to the VTB United League.
The Euroleague participant continued to calmly find free-throw opportunities under the basket. The army team simply could not keep up with the reinforcements and often fouled Uros Plavsic, who shot a lot from the penalty line. “Crvena” had a 7:2 lead, Pistiolis had to react with a time-out. It is unlikely that it helped, as the Belgrade club did not slow down the pace and reduced the difference to “-2”. Yago dos Santos was silent throughout the match, but at the right moment the Brazilian stepped up and scored five points in a row. As a result, Sferopoulos’ team took the lead for the first time in the match. At the most important moment of the match, Trimble lit up, scoring five military points in a row, as did the great CSKA veteran Nikita Kurbanov, who sent three into the ring and scored a dunk. A minute before the end of the match, the army team was leading by three points.
The most important shot of the match for Crvena was made by Miller-McIntyre and… missed! After that, basketball fans were treated to a series of tactical fouls from both sides. The Serbian national team was stronger in the last quarter (30:22), but lost the match 92:94. The match turned out to be very worthy for both sides, so three players shared the title of the most productive player. Trimble, Kanaan and Urosh scored 21 points each. For CSKA, two other basketball players had an excellent match: Avramovich – 16 points, four rebounds and three assists and Ware – 14 points and two assists.
VTB United League Super Cup. Group A
September 12, 2024, Thursday. 20:00 Moscow time
red star
Belgrade
CSKA: Ware, Jekiri, Avramovich, Gankevich, Trimble, Ukhov, Astapkovich, Karpenko, Antonov, Jean-Charles, M’Bye, Kurbanov
Red Star: Miller-McIntyre, Canan, Davidovac, Mitrovic, Lazic, Kalinic, Dobrich, Ilic, Daum, Plavsic, Kostic, dos Santos
In general, an opponent of the Euroleague level not only made CSKA sweat, but at some point also doubted that the army team would win. At the decisive moment, the leaders took the initiative into their own hands and fulfilled their task, although the match was held on equal terms. Anyone can win, but the strongest goes to the final. Pistiolis has a lot to think about before the most important United League Super Cup, as the Star showed CSKA that their forward line is far from ideal at the moment, which cannot be said about the defensive line, where Avramovic, Trimble and Ware were tearing the opponent apart. We hope that conclusions will be drawn and an equally interesting match awaits us in the final.
A vivid conversation with the hero of today’s match:
Exclusive
“If I speak Russian, people will like me more.” Conversation with the American leader of CSKA
