2017–18 Baltic Basketball League

2017–18 Baltic Basketball League
Season2017–18
Duration24 October 2017 – 5 April 2018
Teams13 (14)
TV partner(s)Delfi TV
Finals
ChampionsPieno žvaigždės
(First title)
  Runners-upJūrmala
Third placeUniversity of Tartu
Fourth placeŠiauliai
Finals MVPCanada Jahenns Manigat
Statistical leaders
Points Belarus Yauheni Beliankou 18.40
Rebounds Latvia Viktors Iļjins 11.00
Assists Lithuania Donatas Sabeckis 6.88

The 2017–18 Triobet Baltic Basketball League was the 14th and the last season of the Baltic Basketball League and the third under the title sponsorship of Triobet. The season began on 24 October 2017 and concluded on 5 April 2018. Last year's finalist Pieno žvaigždės defeated Jūrmala in the finals to win their first Baltic Basketball League title.[1]

Competition format

In this edition 14 teams took part. They were divided into two groups of seven teams where, after a double-legged round-robin, the best four of each group will qualify to the quarterfinals. Kazakh team Barsy Atyrau and Belarusian Tsmoki-Minsk II played all their matches abroad.[2]

Midway through the season Vytautas withdrew from the league due to them forfeiting two different games in this league for different reasons. As a result, they would participate in a series of friendly matches dubbed the Big Baller Brand Challenge Games; it was created for the purpose of promoting their newest acquisitions at the time in LiAngelo Ball and LaMelo Ball.[3]

Team information

Group Team City, Country Arena Head coach
Group A Estonia AVIS Rapla Rapla, Estonia Sadolin Sports Hall Estonia Aivar Kuusmaa
Estonia Port of Pärnu Pärnu, Estonia Pärnu Sports Hall Estonia Heiko Rannula
Latvia Betsafe/Liepāja Liepāja, Latvia Liepāja Olympic Center Latvia Agris Galvanovskis
Latvia Jūrmala Jūrmala, Latvia Jūrmala State Gymnasium Latvia Mārtiņš Gulbis
Lithuania Šiauliai Šiauliai, Lithuania Šiauliai Arena Lithuania Antanas Sireika
Lithuania Vytautas Prienai/Birštonas, Lithuania Prienai Arena Lithuania Virginijus Šeškus
Belarus Tsmoki-Minsk II Minsk, Belarus The team will play away Belarus Rostislav Vergun
Group B Estonia University of Tartu Tartu, Estonia University of Tartu Sports Hall Estonia Priit Vene
Estonia TLÜ/Kalev Tallinn, Estonia Kalev Sports Hall Estonia Gert Kullamäe
Estonia TTÜ Tallinn, Estonia TTÜ Sports Hall Estonia Rait Käbin
Latvia Valmiera/ORDO Valmiera, Latvia Vidzeme Olympic Center Latvia Kristaps Valters
Latvia Ogre Ogre, Latvia Ogre 1st Secondary School Latvia Arturs Visockis-Rubenis
Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys, Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės Arena Lithuania Gediminas Petrauskas
Kazakhstan Barsy Atyrau Atyrau, Kazakhstan The team will play away Serbia Aleksandar Vrzina

Regular season

Group A

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Latvia Jūrmala 10 9 1 823 689 +134 Qualification to playoffs
2 Lithuania Šiauliai 10 9 1 898 713 +185
3 Estonia AVIS Utilitas Rapla 10 5 5 788 786 +2
4 Estonia Port of Pärnu 10 3 7 757 788 −31
5 Latvia Betsafe Liepāja 10 3 7 612 765 −153
6 Belarus Tsmoki-Minsk II 10 1 9 686 823 −137
7 Lithuania Vytautas[a] (D) 0 0 0 0 0 0 Disqualified
Source: BBL.net
(D) Disqualified
Notes:
  1. ^ Vytautas forfeit and was consequently disqualified.[4]

Group B

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification
1 Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės 12 11 1 1188 832 +356 Qualification to playoffs
2 Estonia University of Tartu 12 8 4 1027 905 +122
3 Latvia Ogre Kumho Tyre 12 8 4 1073 910 +163
4 Estonia TLÜ Kalev 12 7 5 978 922 +56
5 Latvia Valmiera ORDO 12 3 9 877 1109 −232
6 Estonia TTÜ 12 3 9 857 998 −141
7 Kazakhstan Barsy Atyrau 12 2 10 765 1089 −324
Source: BBL.net

Playoffs

In the knockout phase rounds will be played in a home-and-away format, with the overall cumulative score determining the winner of a round. Thus, the score of one single game can be tied.[5]

Bracket

Quarterfinals
27 February 2018 – 7 March 2018 		Semifinals
14 March 2018 – 21 March 2018 		Finals
28 March 2018 – 5 April 2018
               
B4 Estonia TLÜ Kalev 81 68 149
A1 Latvia Jūrmala 89 77 166
A1 Latvia Jūrmala 81 81 162
B2 Estonia University of Tartu 69 83 152
A3 Estonia AVIS Utilitas Rapla 67 47 114
B2 Estonia University of Tartu 73 76 149
A1 Latvia Jūrmala 80 68 148
B1 Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės 98 76 174
B3 Latvia Ogre Kumho Tyre 75 87 162
A2 Lithuania Šiauliai 78 97 175
A2 Lithuania Šiauliai 84 64 148 Third place
B1 Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės 91 68 159
A4 Estonia Port of Pärnu 66 84 150 B2 Estonia University of Tartu 86 78 164
B1 Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės 96 78 174 A2 Lithuania Šiauliai 88 70 158

Finals

Team #1 Agg. Team #2 1st leg 2nd leg
Jūrmala Latvia 148–174 Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės 80–98 68–76
Game 1
28 March 2018
19:00
Jūrmala Latvia 80–98 Lithuania Pieno žvaigždės
Scoring by quarter: 21–20, 24–23, 17–31, 18–24
Pts: Edgars Jeromanovs 24
Rebs: Andrejs Šeļakovs 9
Asts: Edgars Jeromanovs 6		 Pts: Trévon Hughes 22
Rebs: Hughes, Manigat 5 each
Asts: Jahenns Manigat 8
Jūrmala State Gymnasium
Attendance: 700
Referees: Rain Peerandi (EST), Oskars Lucis (LAT), Arturas Sukys (LTU)
Game 2
5 April 2018
18:00
Pieno žvaigždės Lithuania 76–68 Latvia Jūrmala
Scoring by quarter: 25–18, 18–24, 22–12, 11–14
Pts: Artūrs Ausējs 19
Rebs: Jahenns Manigat 7
Asts: Jahenns Manigat 7		 Pts: Ervīns Jonāts 15
Rebs: Denis Krestinin 12
Asts: Denis Krestinin 3
Pasvalys Pieno žvaigždės Arena
Attendance: 1000
Referees: Gintaras Vitkauskas (LTU), Aare Halliko (EST), Martins Kozlovskis (LAT)


Baltic Basketball League 2017–18 Champions
Lithuania
Pieno žvaigždės
1st title

Awards

MVP of the Month

Month Player Team Ref.
November 2017 United States Steven Cook Estonia University of Tartu [6]
December 2017 Lithuania Laurynas Birutis Lithuania Šiauliai [7]
January 2018 Estonia Janar Talts Estonia University of Tartu [8]
February 2018 Latvia Ivars Žvīgurs Latvia Jūrmala [9]
March 2018 Lithuania Laurynas Birutis (2) Lithuania Šiauliai [10]

Source: BBL Homepage

Finals MVP

Player statistics

Players qualify to this category by having at least 50% games played.

Points

Rank Name Team Games Points PPG
1 Belarus Yauheni Beliankou Belarus Tsmoki-Minsk II 10 184 18.40
2 Latvia Jānis Kaufmanis Latvia Valmiera ORDO 12 196 16.33
3 United States Nolan Cressler Estonia AVIS Utilitas Rapla 12 194 16.17

Assists

Rank Name Team Games Assists APG
1 Lithuania Donatas Sabeckis Lithuania Šiauliai 16 110 6.88
2 Estonia Norman Käbin Estonia TTÜ 12 69 5.75
3 Latvia Rinalds Sirsniņš Latvia Ogre Kumho Tyre 14 75 5.36

Rebounds

Rank Name Team Games Rebounds RPG
1 Latvia Viktors Iļjins Latvia Valmiera ORDO 11 121 11.00
2 Senegal Bamba Fall Estonia TLÜ Kalev 14 119 8.50
3 United States Devonte Upson Estonia AVIS Utilitas Rapla 12 97 8.08

Efficiency

Rank Name Team Games Efficiency PIR
1 Lithuania Laurynas Birutis Lithuania Šiauliai 15 302 20.13
2 Senegal Bamba Fall Estonia TLÜ Kalev 14 280 20.00
3 Latvia Viktors Iļjins Latvia Valmiera ORDO 11 209 19.00

References

  1. ^ "NPieno Zvaigzdes crowned as BBL champions". Baltic Basketball League. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  2. ^ "New BBL season ready for tip-off". Baltic Basketball League. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Prienu Vytautas to Play in 'Big Baller Brand Challenge Games'". Sports Illustrated. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  4. ^ "Vytautas forfeits, disqualification looming". Baltic Basketball League. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  5. ^ "Competition system". Baltic Basketball League. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Steven Cook lands first Player of the Month award". Baltic Basketball League. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  7. ^ "Birutis claims player of the month honors". Baltic Basketball League. 29 December 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  8. ^ "Janar Talts claims January's Player of the Month honors". Baltic Basketball League. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  9. ^ "Ivars Zvigurs lights up February for Player of the Month award". Baltic Basketball League. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Birutis rakes in March MVP honors". Baltic Basketball League. 1 April 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Finals MVP Manigat: "You're only as good as your fans"". Baltic Basketball League. 6 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.