Pafbet LBL final series: “VEF Riga” takes the first victory, continuation on Monday DSN

On Thursday, May 9, in the first game of the final series of the Pafbet Latvian Basketball League, “VEF Rīga” beat “Rīgas Zeļļi” (81:78), taking a 1:0 lead. The second game in the series of up to four victories is on Monday, May 13, at 8 p.m. in the Daugava Sports Hall. On Saturday, May 11, the bronze series will begin: BK “Ventspils” – BK “Liepāja” (up to 3 wins).

“VEF Riga” – “Rīgas Zeļļi” 81:78 (25:20, 46:41, 67:61). 1:0 in the series

Injuries have reduced the fighting strength of “VEF Rīga” to eight men, encouraging them to play not only qualitatively, but also as rationally as possible. Working like this, they managed to keep the lead for most of the first half (the biggest lead after Robert Blum’s 7-point series was reached in the 8th minute – 23:16). However, “Rīgas Zeļļi” immediately took advantage of even a small loss of energy, taking over the initiative and leadership in the middle of the second quarter (in the 14th minute – 29:33). In the first half, the advantage of the champions in long shots (2/13 – 3/9) was not really justified, but the victory in the fight for rebounds (26-16, including the attack 14-7) stabilized the basis for the small advantage.

The content of the game did not really change in the second half. “VEF Rīga” generally played more stable and was in the lead almost all the time. “Zeļļi” came close only once (67:67 in the 34th minute), but kept the intrigue until the last second. There were many episodes in which the plot of the game could have turned in a different direction, however, the most important thing seemed to be the higher quality performance of “VEF Riga” in the quarters and also at the end of the game.

In the whole game, 2-pointers 25/47 – 19/36, 3-pointers 4/23 – 8/26, penalties 19/23 – 16/19, rebounds 44-32 (offensive 21-11), fouls 7-9.

For “VEF Riga” team Sean Pipes scored 25 points, Rodrigo Boomeister 14+8 rebounds, Arnaldo Toro Barea 11+18 rebounds, Gregory Whittington 11+8 rebounds, Robert Blum 10, Jaizek Lotti 6 (4 assists), Dairis Bertāns 2 (4 assists), Pēteris Pinnis 2.

For “Rīgas Zeļļi” team Jordan Hunters 22+8 shots, Toms Skuja 12, Dāvids Vīksne 10, Aizeja Osborns 9, Kamaka Hepa 9, Mārtiņš Meiers 8, Juris Vītols 6, Uģis Pinete 2, Ričards Daniels Vanags, Rihards Berkolds.

“VEF Rīga” – “Rīgas Zellļi”: up to 4 wins