Eurocup: Ventspils with its latest addition Janicenoks against the leaders of the group

Ventspils already managed to surprise once, when during the game in Krasnodar at beginning of the last quarter Ventspils was up by six points, but the hosts were able to push back and get a comfortable win 72:60. During the last round of the qualification tournament the team of Sergey Bazarevich struggled even with the weakest team in the group “Stelmet”, in the end winning the game by ten points 78:68, while during a VTB League game on Saturday Kuban destroyed “Krasnie Krilya” with Kaspars Berzins on its roster.

Ventspils has nothing to be proud about regarding their last games. To be more precise – there were reasons for happiness during the game but the results were not exactly showing it – a loss on the home court against Liepaja, a massive loss in Podgorica against its own “Buducnost”. If the first loss may have no lasting effect on BK “Ventspils” future in the LBL regular season, Latvian tournament is quite the long one, then the loss against Montenegrins has already changed the situation in the F group of the EuroCup.

Both champions – Montenegro and Latvia – have the same amount of wins but “Buducnost” but Montenegrins are in the fourth place and it will stay that way, if team will have the same amount of points at the end of the first group tournament because the total amount of points made by “Buducnost” in two games against Ventspils is bigger than of what Ventspils made. Theoretically speaking Ventspils would need two victories, if we assume that “Stelmet” doesn’t have a secret weapon on their bench and it will lose to every team back-to-back.

There is not big of a choice from who to take these victories, though, especially, when there are just two home game to be played during the second round of F group tournament. At first hosting “Loko” but after visiting Izmir and Thessaloniki the group tournament will end at home against the Polish. Here’s to hoping that by then Ventspils won’t lose all chances to make it to the next group round of the EuroCup. For this to happen the first victory should be taken the earlier the better that’s why also the threatening guests from Krasnodar should be put on the to-do list. Of course, the roster of the Russian basketball club doesn’t ask for any comments - to find a weakness in a full stock of talents is like looking for needle in a hay stack. However, it doesn’t mean that Ventspils won’t try to do that, even more so, during the first game in Kuban Ventspils did it quite well. But if our team succeeds again, and we all sure do hope so, that it will happen, the team should be able to convey everything until the last minute of the game and win it! After all “Loko” has had its weak moment when it fell to “Astana” team on the road during VTB league game, but it started the European season with a destructive win over Polish “Stelmet” 97:78, but it has also been the only convincing victory for Bazarevich & Co. this far.

While the head coach of “Lokomotiv” will be worrying about how to make these fantastic players to play in unison and the song that is requested, Roberts Stelmahers won’t be having problems of motivating his men, on the contrary, he should watch out for them not to burn out. Another question to be answered prior the game on Wednesday is – how ready and prepared is Kristaps Janicenoks, the latest addition to the team roster. But the head coach will have the time during the practices to find out. Before joining Ventspils Kristaps has been practicing a lot, and there is no doubt about his experience and skills to adapt quickly. There is also no doubt about when exactly we will see him on the court – it will happen this Wednesday, and hopefully he will be able to help and to slow down the Russian locomotive.

Of course, a loss against the Russian basketball grand won’t erase BK “Ventspils” chances to make it to the second qualification round but the time has come when Ventspils team doesn’t have the luxury of sorting its rivals. Victories are necessary, and let’s hope that also our fans are ready to be there in the arena and cheer for their team. The game will be a tough one so the fan support is that more important! By far on average 2100 people have been in the attendance during the EuroCup games in Ventspils. But how about an early season record?

Ventspils rivals “Buducnost” visit “Karsiyaka”, while “Stelmet” is hosting “PAOK”.

As always the game Ventspils begins at 19 o’ clock, and just like all previous time the live broadcast will be brought to you by Sportacentrs.com.