ASK Riga – Siauliai

This season both teams has met already four times. The most interesting fact is that no host team has won a single game in this duel. At the beginning of the season ASK Riga won Siauliai on the road with the result 91:86. At the end of the season, however Siauliai took their revenge by beating ASK Riga in Arena Riga with the result 83:78. In first play-off game Siauliai outperformed the hosts ASK Riga 76:75. On the second play-off game ASK Riga answered with a win 61:44. Overall during the season ASK Riga has played better in home games as they have got 7 victories and 2 losses, however Siauliai does not play bad in away games as they have won 5 and lost 4 of them. Theoretically, this is an advantage for ASK Riga as the game will be held in Arena Riga but team Siauliai does not come to Riga to lose the game.
If we take a look at the leaders of the teams then for ASK Riga Uvis Helmanis scores 10.5 points per game on average. Aigars Vitols and Ernests Kalve follows him with 9.5 and 8.5 respectively. However, due to the situation in ASK Riga that many players have left the team  in the last games Raitis Grafs plays a major role in their play and he has definitely become one of the team leaders. On average he scores just 7.8 points but this is due to the reason that at the beginning of the season he played episodically.
In team Siauliai Gintaras Kadziulis on average scores 15.6 points per game. The three followers to him are Virginijus Praskevicius, Stefhonl Hannah and Andrius Slezas who scores on average 12.7, 11.4 and 11.2 points per game respectively. Siauliai similarly as ASK Riga has a player who on average does not score many points but in the last games has played a major role in the team play – it is young Mindaugas Kuzminskas who already has proved his ability to play in serious play-off games being just 19 years old.

Kalev/Cramo – Rock

Kalev/Cramo is a typical home game team as during the season they lost only one game in their Saku Arena, however eight were won. Rock however, play well on the road and they proved it in the first play-off game against Kalev/Cramo beating them 76:70. On the second play-off game Kalev/Cramo did not left a single hope for Rock outcompeting them 84:56. During the regular season Kalev/Cramo got two victories against Rock 87:83 and 73:63.
Kalev/Cramo has three main leaders, namely Nate Fox, John Linehan and Kevin Lyde. They all on average score 14.4, 13.1, and 12.7 points per game respectively. However, there are local heroes who can make the game in the team as well. These are Kristjan Kangur and Gregor Arbet.
Tartu Rock base their game on the legionnaires as well. For all the Baltic States the well known Tanoka Beard who on average scores 16.7 points per game is the leader of the team. Additionally, there are two Georgian national team players – George Tsintsadze and Viktor Sanikidze. They both on average score 15.8 and 9.4 points. The force Kalev/Cramo has to take into account when playing against Rock is definitely Janar Talts. He scores 10.3 points per game.

In both play-off pairs it is hard to predict a winner. It looks like ASK Riga and Kalev/Cramo has a home-court advantage but it is worth emphasizing once again that not a single play-off game has ended with a home team victory. Both games on Wednesday, first of April 2009, evening start almost simultaneously, Kalev/Cramo – Rock at 18:50 and ASK Riga – Siauliai at 19:05. Moreover, both games will be broadcasted on TV as Estonian match will be on ETV but Latvian-Lithuanian team game will be on Viasat Sport Baltic.