Five Patterns of the Playoffs

We already had five paradoxes - it's time for patterns.

Pattern one:
all according to plan

The playoffs came out as short as possible - only eight games, six ended dry, not a single tie-break. They won, which is typical, those commands, which were higher in the regular season. Without much stress. Intrigue, supposedly laid down in St. Petersburg, did not find continuation in Nizhny Novgorod. The chance of the Kemerovo team was extinguished after one and a half games of the return game with Belogorye. "Samotlor" resisted, but to no avail. "Torch" did not burn, but floated. And it's all natural, because our Super League, Unfortunately, quite strongly divided into commands "from above" and "from below". The "bottom" team can bite the "top" team in a separate set, less often - in a match, but unable to pull out the series. And this is a serious reason to think.

Pattern two:
well what are you, Yurichich

Kuzbass this season has become an example, how not to use the potential. Even without Alan Sousa, the Kemerovo team had to show something more intelligible, at least lose to Belogoriya in an equal fight. Yes, not additional resources, but they are also an indirect result of the work. During the season, head coach Igor Juricic was criticized "from outside": for team play, for timeouts, for Alexander Butko, dusting in a square, for the missing Papazov, etc.. But it seemed, that we don’t know and don’t understand something - now it’s time for decisive matches, and Yurichich will surprise everyone. Not surprised, which is natural.

Pattern three:
young people are not ready, veterans don't pull

Fakel lost to Dynamo almost without a fight. On the one hand - who will throw a stone at the youth? In a year or two, the alignment may change, and while the process of plumage is going on. But, on the other hand: and what prevented you from trying to jump over your head? When else the result will not prevail? Another story with veterans from ASK: they took everything out, what could, but the result is the same. Naturally - in modern volleyball, the class beats and youth, and experience.

Pattern four:
diagonal is important in decisive matches

The diagonal player is, in principle, the backbone, along with the link. But when it comes to the showdown, his role is growing exponentially. Al-Khachdadi did not let Kuzbass raise their heads, Poletaev demoralized ASK in the second match, Pirainen explained to Sapozhkov and Litvinenko, that stability is more important than efficiency, but Babkevich could not become a leader. The result is natural.

Pattern five:
it's not in the playoffs, and in volleyball

Now the current format has a lot of opponents: and the workload of the teams is different, and the draw of medals in one game is too “slippery”. We can agree with this, but what is the alternative? In the current balance of power, the classic playoff formula would be just as boring until the semi-final stage. And there is no fact, that would be something epic. Final six themes and good, what provokes intrigue - everything is decided by small details, one or two points, one party, one match. Yes, in terms of professional sports, perhaps, not very relevant, but it's not bad for keeping the intrigue. Let's be honest: it is unlikely that anyone will be able to defeat Kazan Zenit in a series of up to three victories today. And catching Kazan in one match is a much more exciting prospect.

So if the teams themselves are not able to create a show, the event format can help them a little. Ilya Kovalev played very usefully as part of Gazprom-Ugra, of course, a rather serious stratification of teams by level is planned in the Super League - and something needs to be done about it. The playoff format has nothing to do with it.