In pursuit of the leader

Strengthening through loss

One of the strongest Russian clubs underwent a serious transformation last summer. You could even say it changed its face, since the star French point guard Thomas Heurtel was directing Zenit’s offense for the last two years. The maestro of three-pointers and assists moved to China, and now the blue-white-blues’ game is determined by completely different people.

And this is not even Trent Frasier, who previously carried big load – the American averages just 6.3 points per game at the start of the season with 18% of three-pointers. The main weapons of the St.Petersburg team are experienced scorer Dwayne Bacon (207 games in the NBA, 56 in the EuroLeague) with 19.6 points on average, and point guard Xavier Moon (28 games for the Clippers in the previous three seasons) – he has 15.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists. But most importantly, Zenit has seriously strengthened its frontline. Now Vince Hunter (8.2 points, 6.3 rebounds) is helped by two newcomers - Alex Poythress (11.5 points), who returned from Olimpia Milan to the banks of Neva, and the heavyweight Omari Spellman (15.5 points, 4.2 rebounds). The start of the tournament for Zenit turned out to be similar to CSKA. The team confidently beat outsiders, coped with UNICS in the fight, but could not remain invincible, losing both the game and the lead in the tournament to Lokomotiv-Kuban last weekend. True, unlike CSKA, Xavi Pascual's team also played their sixth game last Wednesday. And, unlike CSKA, they held out in the hot ending against Pari NN.

Everything hockey

Accordingly, unlike Zenit, after the meeting with the Nizhny Novgorod team last Saturday, the Muscovites began preparing for the battle with the St. Petersburg team. True, they were unable to use the Megasport arena, which had been busy with hockey all week. The team, almost in full force (with the exception of Nikita Mikhailovskii, who was recovering from illness), worked as usual in the training hall and in the main arena of the Basket Hall in Krylatskoye.

“We had a week to prepare for this great rivalry and we worked hard to be ready,” CSKA head coach Andreas Pistiolis said. “We lost our previous game so in this one it is very important to send the message to ourselves that we are actually better than we were a week ago. I hope that our fans will fill the gym and give us support because every factor is essential in this kind of game.”

Past matchups

Wins-losses: 38-17 (5-0 in EuroLeague, 18-0 against Triumph Lyubertsy)

Games of the 2023-24 VTB United League season:

08-Oct-2023. 1st stage. Zenit - CSKA: 76-80 (+4)
10-Dec-2023. 1st stage. CSKA - Zenit: 104-89 OT (+15)
01-Mar-2024. 2nd stage. Zenit - CSKA: 81-71 (-10)
28-Mar-2024. 2nd stage. CSKA - Zenit: 91-92 (-1)
05-May-2024. Semifinals. Zenit - CSKA: 67-82 (+15)
07-May-2024. Semifinals. Zenit - CSKA: 93-81 (-12)
10-May-2024. Semifinals. CSKA - Zenit: 75-61 (+14)
12-May-2024. Semifinals. CSKA - Zenit: 73-91 (-18)
16-May-2024. Semifinals. Zenit - CSKA: 73-99 (+26)
19-May-2024. Semifinals. Zenit - CSKA: 97-91 (+6)

Brief dossier

Zenit St.Petersburg, Russia

Founded: 2014
Colors: dark-blue, white, light-blue
Homecourt: KSK Arena (7,120)
CEO: Alexander Tserkovny
Head coach: Xavi Pascual
Website: bc-zenit.com