UNICS tightened the noose on Zenit: Perasovic is a magician, the final against CSKA is ahead.

      Miracle of the Year: UNICS wins the seventh match and advances to the finals against CSKA

      Medvedev conjured and gave a "high five" for luck

      An hour before the match, the stands of the Basketball Hall were sparsely populated. On the court, Mikhail Belenitsky was practicing shots from various spots. I watched him – he made about half of what he shot. Later, the others arrived. For example, the chairman of the board of directors of Zenit, Alexander Medvedev, was wandering around the court thoughtfully, as if casting a spell for the desired result for the St. Petersburg team. Then he approached and hugged Alexey Shved. I think they had something to discuss.

      Here we notice that Trent Frazier has tape on his right shoulder. As noted by colleagues from St. Petersburg, he didn't have that in the last match. A representative from Zenit appeared unnoticed in the media zone – he gave a "high five" to one of his photographers and said, "Let's do it for luck, like last time."

      Paris Lee – the unsung hero of this match

      The match for Kazan started poorly – the hosts checked the opponent's hoop from long and mid-range, but it didn't bring success. The Petersburg team scored theirs – including a three-pointer from Zbanov – and it was already 0:5. The guests generally controlled the start of the match. Then Perasovic pulled out his trump card in the form of a standard double substitution – Reynolds and Shved appeared. They barely got on the court when they quarreled – Alexey made an inaccurate pass and immediately heard a reprimand from Jalen.

      UNICS equalized the score – 7:7, but the statistics at that moment showed that Kazan had only three rebounds, while Zenit had eight – five of them under their own basket. By the end of the quarter, Radonjic's team had collected as many as 10 rebounds – six under their own hoop. Kazan had seven rebounds in 10 minutes, two under their own board. At the end of the first quarter, Shved sent greetings to all skeptics with a long-range shot.

      The second ten minutes started with the hosts pulling ahead – there were three-pointers from Shved (11 points in the match) and Reynolds (8 points in the match). Then Alexey made a steal and scored with a dunk. By the way, UNICS looked better in the second quarter – eight against six.

      The team from the banks of the Neva was being "carried" by Zbanov, Frazier, and Yemchenko. For Kazan, we also note Paris Lee. In my opinion, he was the only person in the entire match who managed to drive to the basket alone twice in this quarter, and no one stopped him. By the way, during warm-ups, he was practicing this moment with a guy from the youth team while wearing headphones.

      Additionally, UNICS had Stewart – and as we love, he immediately "dropped" a long-range shot. That’s how the first half ended – 33:29 in favor of the Kazan club.

      Kazan did not remove the "stranglehold" from Zenit's neck

      How often in this series have we seen a team that played well in the first half look dull in the second. I immediately recall a recent match when Kazan was down by 17. And then they started to correct everything.

      Here, however, the situation was different – they had to maintain the advantage. Perasovic started the third quarter without Jalen and Shved, but with a long shot from captain Dmitry Kulagin. Then Lee continued to live in his world and patrol the space from receiving the ball to the basket.

      Frazier and Vorontsevich were trying for Zenit. But their efforts were not enough. It was also clear that the threads of the game were slipping away from Radonjic's guys. And a second before the last break, along with the buzzer, I think Lee knocked the last strength out of Petersburg with a long shot, making it 50:39. I remember a fan standing next to me said, "You can't give this away."

      And UNICS, as if hearing this, extended the lead to a comfortable "+13," and then it was a matter of technique. Yes, Zbanov thundered from afar at the end, yes, Radonjic called a timeout 30 seconds before the end, but UNICS, driven by the packed stands, confirmed their victory – 64:55.

      Touching performance from the basketball players' families

      Now we can loudly say what we were afraid to voice for the last two weeks: "We are going to the finals." And Perasovic, although he was almost emotionless, did not hide his pleasure at the result:

      "I am happy that we won. Happy for our fans, players. We reached the finals after such a semifinal series in which we were down 1:3. After that, we came back and played with heart, confidence, and courage. I want to congratulate our fans again, who helped us a lot," said Perasovic.

      By the way, the coach also spoke about Alexey Shved. Specifically about the player's injury:

      "He has something with his meniscus. We don't know exactly what yet," said Perasovic.

      And Kazan club forward Andrey Lopatkin shared something important. After this, you understand how important support is in sports:

      "I want to say a big thank you for the video that the club showed us before the game with touching words from our parents, beloved wives, and children. It motivated us a lot and gave us the energy we needed. I first saw such a video before the Euroleague Final Four when CSKA made it. Now I am in another team. I was curious what it would be like to play after watching such a video. It really gave us huge motivation and unreal strength. Thanks to our loved ones, we made it to the finals. I hope we keep this mindset and energy to win the 'gold.'"

      "Before the 7th match, most experts rated the chances as 50-50. What allowed UNICS to overcome Zenit?"

      "I believe it was the video that motivated us. We didn’t let go of the energy and fought for what we had inside – for our home, for our families. We managed to impose a physical battle on our opponents. As I said, it was great that the decisive match took place at home. The victory is a great gift for us and the fans! I hope it continues like this," said Lopatkin.

      Ahead of UNICS players are a few days, and at least one day off. On June 1, a new battle will begin – against CSKA for the trophy. But that will be a completely different story.

      Photo: unics.ru