BC "Prometey" - BC "Liepaja" (Liepaja, Latvia). November 5. 18:30. Latvian-Estonian basketball league Pafbet. 7th round. Riga (Latvia). Rimi Olympic Centre. Broadcast - "DIVISPORT BASKETBALL" YouTube channel.
Already after two days after the fierce confrontation in Spanish Badalona with the local “Joventut” within the 7DAYS EuroCup, “Prometey” turns back to the programm of the Latvian-Estonian basketball league Pafbet. Herewith, our team’s match will be the central one in the 7th tour as Ronen Ginzburg’s squad will play with the team sitting in the third position in the league so far, BC “Liepaja”. As a reminder, “Prometey” itself is the only team that did not suffer a single loss.
BC “Liepaja” represents the westernmost city of the same name in Latvia, the third biggest one in the country in terms of population after Riga and Daugavpils. Liepaja is situated on the Baltic Sea coast and its port is famous for not freezing all year round. BC “Liepaja” was founded in 1991 and it was the August of the same year when Latvia regained its Independence.
The nearest “Prometey” rival has been participating in all national championships since 1992. Their highest achievements are the silver medals in 1997 and the bronze ones in 2000. Several times, “Liepaja” advanced to the semi-final stage of the play-off of the Latvian championship. Last time it happened in the 2020/2021 season. The team conceded in two matches to the future champion – the capital “VEF”. In the confrontation for the third place, “Liepaja” lost to “Ogre” (87:90).
Regarding the team’s performance in the Latvian-Estonian league, they were in the eight of the strongest teams in the regular part of the championship only once in the 2020/2021 season. However, they did not reach the Final Four. This season, the squad of Arturs Visockis-Rubenis is targeted to achieve the highest results. At the beginning of the championship, “Liepaja” unexpectedly surpassed “VEF” in a home match (98:93) and “Kalev/Cramo” on the road (94:90). In the four following matches, the team had only two wins, at that, the winning gap in the confrontations with the Estonian “TalTech/Optibet” and “Tallinn Kalev/Audentes” was only one possession – 77:76 and 86:83 respectively. In two matches, “Liepaja” was defeated: first, to Estonian “Rapla” (71:75) and then, to Latvian “Ogre” (68:81).
This instability of the “Prometey” opponent is quite possibly related to the fact that the basement of the team consists of 17-20-year-old guys. The most experience players are 30-year-old Arnolds Helmanis and 25-year-old Renars Birkans, Karlis Zunda and Karlis Silins. All of them are the undeniable leaders of the team. The center Karlis Silins (210cm height) is the most productive and the most effective player of “Liepaja” (14.8 points and PE 23.2 per match). Besides that, Silins makes 9.3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1.5 block-shot per match, which is also the best figures in the team. There are two double-double in the assets of this player, and his figures in the match against “VEF” could not help but inspire respect. Point guard Renars Birkans is the best “Liepaja” assistant – 6.7 productive assists per match. Small guard Karlis Zunda made a significant contribution to the road victory over “Kalev/Cramo” – 30 points.
A young squad of “Liepaja” awaits a difficult trial by “Prometey”. The odds might be slightly equalized by the fact that “Prometey” expended a lot of strength, first of all emotionally, in the confrontation with “Joventut”. Although, they hava a great potential to continue their victorious series in the LEBL.
The fans of the “Red and white” have all reason to expect that. To follow the course of events in the match “Prometey” – “Liepaja” watch the video broadcast on YouTube channel “DIVISPORT BASKETBALL”, starting at 18:30
