Whether the duels between “Rīgas Zeļļu” and “VEF Rīga” qualifies for the status of Riga basketball derby can be discussed with arguments on both sides of the statement. But it is clear that every time the matches of the capital’s teams so far have created excitement and an irritated atmosphere.
The team coached by Jura Umbrašo started the mutual history of these two Riga teams with the success of the pink team in the main tournament of the combined league. However, in subsequent duels, the team of Jānis Gailīš has been better, which rehabilitated both in the second game of the regular season and won in Jelgava in the battle for the “Užava” basketball cup.
In the first game of the elimination tournament at the Riga Olympic Center, the final score of 87:72 was quite different from the course of the game itself. Until the middle of the fourth quarter, “Rīgas Zeļļi” was on the heels of Vefiņas, who in the end gained the advantage with the effective shots of Greg Whittington and Jaizek Lotti.
In the very last seconds of the game, Lotti broke the unwritten code of basketball by making a shot in the basket, when the head coaches of the teams were already going to shake hands with each other and the players had stopped playing defense. This provoked the anger of “Rīgas Zeļļļu”, as Rihards Berkolds, who was loaned to Zeļli from VEF, and Pidgey Pipes, the defender of the Black Death, became the main characters involved in the conflict from the bench. The hand-wringing led to sanctions with a 300-euro fine for each of the teams, but no additional disqualifications were imposed on the expelled Berkold and Pipes.
🏀 GAME DAY!
Game 2 of the quarterfinals, 0-1 in the series
🆚 @vefriga
📌 Daugava sports house
🕖 18:00
🎟️ https://t.co/buq1vs8DU4
📺 TV4 a pic.twitter.com/sr7IDyrSTt— Riga Zelli (@RigasZelli) April 1, 2024
The second @Pafleague 1/4 final series game tonight at 18.00 away at DSN! ⚫️⚪️🏀
Watch the game live on TV4 or ✌🏻
For our victory! 🔒 pic.twitter.com/YEGZJOWkyF
— VEF Riga (@vefriga) April 1, 2024
The second match of the series will take place tonight at 18:00 at the Daugava Sports Hall. If “Rīgas Zeļļu” wins, the race for the semi-finals will continue with the third, decisive match, which will take place on Friday at Vefiņas’ home. On the other hand, the victory of “VEF Rīga” would allow the Latvian champion team to start thinking about the semi-final series against the winners of the duel between “Prometey” and “Ogres”.
The live broadcast of “Rīgas Zeļļu” and “VEF Rīga” will be watched on TV4 channel and on the Sportacentrs.com portal.
Another joint league play-off battle will take place tonight at 19:00. “Pērnava Osta”, represented by Ervīn Jonāt, will host the winner of the main tournament, “Kalev/Cramo” from Tallinn. Due to an injury, Jānis Bērziņš will no longer play in the Estonian championship team this season. In this series, the Tallinn team is ahead with 1-0.
The quarter-finals of the Latvian-Estonian combined league
Duel1. game2. game3. gameSeriesKalev/Cramo – Pärnu Sadam83:7701.04.03.04.*1-0Prometey – Ogre97:8203.04.05.04.*1-0VEF Riga – Rīgas Zeļli87:7201.04.05.04.*1-0Ventspils – Tartu University103:6903.04.05.04.*1- 0
* – if necessary.
2024-04-01 07:35:00
#laugh #Riga #playoff #battle #Basketball #Sportacentrs.com
