BC "Parnu Sadam" (Parnu, Estonia) - BC "Prometey". October 22. 17:00. Latvian-Estonian basketball league Pafbet. 5th round. Parnu (Estonia). Arena "Parnu Spordihall". Broadcast - "DIVISPORT BASKETBALL" YouTube channel.
In the programme of the 5th tour of the Latvian-Estonian league, it isn’t difficult at all to single out a central match. This is definitely a confrontation of local basketball club “Parnu Sadam” and our “Prometey” in Estonian city of Parnu. As fore today, only these two teams won all their matches in the league, which allowed them to settle down in two first lines in the standings.
Besides that, tomorrow’s opponent of “Prometey”, who represents Parnu, the port city and a main Estonian resort on the Baltic sea, is a reigning champion of Estonia. This club with 16-year history advanced to the leading roles in their country only in the previous two years. In 2020/2021 season, “Parnu Sadam” came second in the regular championship, and reached the final in the play-off, having played with the multiple leader of Estonian basketball “Kalev/Kramo”. “Parnu” started the decisive series with the win, however later, in the three following confrontations they turned out to be weaker than the capital club.
Last season, following the results of the main stage of the championship, “Parnu” started the play-off from the 4th position, but became the best team of Estonia! In the quarterfinal series, they defeated “Rapla” with the score of 3:1; and in the semi-final, they took a revenge on “Kalev/Kramo”; the events of this series the fans of this club, for sure, will remember for a long time. “Parnu Sadam” started with two fails, but afterwards, made a fantastic comeback defeated “Kalev” three times in a row! The final was not so dramatic: “Parnu Sadam” turned out to be stronger than “Tartu Ulikool” in all three matches.
After the “Prometey” opponent became the strongest team of the country, their ambitions extended over two international tournaments – the Latvian-Estonian basketball league and group stage of FIBA EuroCup. The team of Toomas Annuk, who worked for “Rapla” for 7 years, started their play in LEBL with three consecutive victories. Initially, they defeated their compatriots from “Viimsi” in a tense fight (87:86 at home) and “Keila” (92:92 on the road) and then, in a home match, Latvian “Ogre” (85:71). 25-year-old forward Mihkel Kirves stood out in all these matches. He averaged 17 points and 8.7 rebounds, which are quite significant figures, as well as his PE of 24. American guard Andre Walker is the best assistant in “Parnu Sadam” in LEBL with 7.5 effective assists per match. His average indicators in steals (4.0 per match) are also worth respect.
The Estonian club entered the group tournament of FIBA EuroCup right from the qualification stage of the Champions Legue, where they conceded to Austrian “Gmunden” with the score of 80:82. The group stage of FIBA EuroCup, “Parnu Sadam” started with the victory 95:83 over Portuguese “Portu”. Here, 25-year-old guard Robert Valge sparkled in this match with his productiveness of 25 points. The second tour in the 7DAYS EuroCup for the Estonian club, as well as for “Prometey”, turned out to be extremely unsuccessful: on October 19, the team conceded in all terms (55:87) to “Den Bosch” from the Netherlands. This time, Ukrainian big man Serhii Pavlov, with 16 points, became the most productive player of “Parnu Sadam”. As a reminder, Serhii spent almost all offseason period at the training camp of “Prometey”, as well as one more player of “Parnu”, 27year-old Latvian guard David Geks.
The fails of “Prometey” and “Parnu Sadam” in the last matches definitely have to raise the motivation of both clubs on the eve of tomorrow’s confrontation in terms of renewing their reputation. But the main thing on agenda is the match of the LEBL leaders that might have all chances to please basketball lovers with bright and fascinating show. To follow the course of events in the match “Parnu Sadam” – “Prometey”, watch a video broadcast on October 22 on YouTube channel “DIVISPORT BASKETBALL” starting at 17:00.
