The top-rated team this year, Avtodor, was able to use its home court, Yunost, to its advantage in Wednesday's contest, which was played at the tiny Saratov gym despite strong protests by the army club.
It seems that almost no basketball match-ups this season can start without controversy. Following the bitter dispute between the Russian Federation and both clubs over the host site in the Moscow's CSKA-Dinamo semifinal series, Avtodor scored a victory off the court when it was able to persuade the federation officials to host the finals at Yunost despite the arena seating only a few hundred and being unsuitable for television broadcasts.
Earlier in the month, the federation had bowed to CSKA demands, backed by Dinamo, to switch games in Saratov to the larger ice palace and force Avtodor to install a basketball floor there. This time, after much bickering, federation bosses finally agreed to save costs and play the games at Saratov's regular home court.
The series now moves to Moscow with two matches over the weekend at the spacious CSKA arena.
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