UNICS means “for the lead”

The first or... the third?

Each time these rivals met this season, first place was at stake, it was going to the winner of the match. This time the situation can be called a little more difficult, because at the end of the regular season Zenit levelled with UNICS and CSKA. An important detail: the team from St.Petersburg is losing to both competitors in the head-to-head matchups, so they cannot take the first spot even theoretically. But in the last round, Xavi Pascual’s team will host Parma at home, the team that already secured fifth place and therefore lacks tournament motivation. The victory takes Zenit to second position, so the hosts will try their best.

Well, in Kazan everything is simple: the winner gets the home court advantage at all stages of the playoffs, the loser with a very high probability remains third.

With changes and additions

“This game defines who takes the first place in the regular season and subsequently the home-court advantage in the playoffs,” CSKA head coach Emil Rajkovic said. “This says it all. Probably this is the game of the year until now. Both teams understand it, and we can expect a real fight. You can say that the playoffs start now. Even though UNICS and us added players last week, you can say that the teams know each other very well. It is all about the tactical details and effort. All basketball Russia will watch it and I am sure that the teams will not disappoint.”

At the decisive stage of the season, both Muscovites and Kazan team are without key players. CSKA is suffering in the absence of Casper Ware, who continues to recover and is working individually. At the same time, the team got the powerful “big man” from Nizhny, CSKA junior project alumnus Alexander Gankevich.

UNICS lost Marcos Knight and Dmitry Kulagin, who both played a vital role in the Kazan backcourt, due to injuries. But the club took two basketball players from NN - CSKA legend Andrei Vorontsevich and young forward Mikhail Belenitsky. Obviously, in these conditions, a particularly heavy load will fall on the “greens” star Nenad Dimitrijevic, who in the previous meeting set an impossible task for the red-blue defense, scoring a record 38 points.

Past matchups

Wins-losses: 86-26

CSKA biggest margin of victory: 102-54 (+48) (1997-98 Russian Championship. Quarterfinal)
UNICS biggest margin of victory: 113-77 (-36) (2000-01 Russian Superleague. Regular season. 2nd stage)

Games of 2023-24 VTB League Season:

23-Nov-2023. 1st stage. UNICS – CSKA: 66-79 (+13)
04-Feb-2023. 1st stage. CSKA – UNICS: 73-83 (-10)
05-Mar-2024. 2nd stage. ЦСКА – УНИКС: 78-84 (-6)

Brief dossier

UNICS Kazan

Founded: 1991
Color: green, black, white
Home court: Basket Hall (7,500)
President: Evgeny Bogachev
Head coach: Velimir Perasovic
Website: www.unics.ru
Trophy case:
- EuroCup winner (2011);
- FIBA Europe League winner (2004);
- VTB League and Russian champion (2023);
- 8-time Russian League runner-up (2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2021),
- 7-time Russian League bronze winner (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2022),
- NEBL champion (2003),
- 3-time Russian Cup winner (2003, 2009, 2014),
- 3-Russian Cup runner-up (2005, 2007, 2010),
- 3-time VTB United League runner-up (2010, 2012, 2016, 2021)