By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
The VTB League regular season was completed following Zenit’s 103-95 OT victory against Astana on Sunday and now eight teams are getting ready for the battle of the playoffs.
The playoffs tip off in May and feature a best-of-five format (2-2-1). The team with the higher seed will host the first two games of the series. These are the match-ups: CSKA – Nizhny Novgorod, UNICS – Kalev, Khimki – Astana, and Lokomotiv-Kuban – Zenit.
Let’s take a look at the pairings:
CSKA Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod slides into the playoffs as the bottom-placed team of the top 8 and will face the reigning champions of the league. While the favorite here is pretty clear, their matchups throughout the season have always been tough. CSKA already counts two wins in the regular season, though Nizhny didn’t go down without a fight. The Army Team looks to get the job done and celebrate its presence in two Final Fours this May.
Key players: Nando De Colo (CSKA Moscow) / 16.3 ppg, 3.4 apg – Kendrick Perry (Nizhny Novgorod) / 16.2 ppg, 6.8 apg, 3.3 rpg
UNICS Kazan – Kalev/Cramo Tallinn
The second pairing of the playoffs also has a clear favorite, Unics. The Kazan side had an excellent course in the regular season and could have even finished first in the standings if it wasn’t for their loss to Parma earlier in April. Unics grabbed two wins during the course of the season against the Estonians and will look to repeat the process in the postseason.
Pierria Henry, the league’s MVP for February is definitely one of UNICS’ biggest assets, thus the homecourt advantage holders will count on him when the ball is ‘hot’.
Key players: Pierria Henry (UNICS Kazan) / 11.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.7 apg – Arnett Moultrie (Kalev) / 19.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg
Khimki Moscow Region – Astana Nur Sultan
Last season’s runner-ups ranked third in the current regular season standings, thus will face Astana that finished sixth. The stakes are high with this pair, as anything can happen on a good day for Astana’s Clemmons-O’Brien duo. However, Khimki has the homecourt advantage and will try to live up to its 2-0 over their visitors and end up in the final stage of the campaign, paced by Alexey Shved, the league’s MVP for October and March.
Key players: Alexey Shved (Khimki) / 22.8 ppg, 6.9 apg, 3.9 rpg – Anthony Clemmons (Astana) / 13.9 ppg, 5.6 apg, 3.6 rpg