ВЭФ Рига, Латвия vs. «Нижний Новгород» Нижний Новгород, Россия

In their Regular Season opener on the road against VEFб players from Nizhny were locked in the close game for three quarters. In the fourth they turned up their defense and won the game — 87:75.

The Plot

Both teams were active on the transfer market, but took different roads to building their rosters. VEF invited young players, while their opponents decided to bid on proven players with experience.

Both teams took their time adjusting to each other. The guest team looked to load up the paint and tried to get as many balls as possible to Rashid Mahalbasic, their new force in the post. Players from Riga weren’t shy about letting it fly from the 3-point line, and that strategy proved successful for VEF in the 1st —25:20.

In the 2nd quarter Ainars Bagatskis made the necessary adjustments and his team also found the touch from deep. Maksim Grigoriev became a spark for Nizhny’s push. He literally did everything out on the floor and by halftime his team was ahead — 47:41.

The second half started with a 6:0 run by Riga, as they cut the deficit to the minimum. As soon as Nizhny managed to build any sort of advantage, VEF was making a comeback, propelled by a quick guard Francisco Cruz. Only that wasn’t enough, as the misses kept on piling up for VEF, Ivan Stebkov’s three has pushed the game out of reach — 72:62. Despite restless attempts, made by Cruz, Nizhny maintained the lead till the final buzzer.

The Hero
Maksim Grigoriev. He’s done most damage in the 1st half as he lead both team in points, rebounded the ball well and blocked a few shots. His input was dramatic down the stretch of the game.

The Number
2 – Number of point scored by VEF in the final six minutes of the ballgame. Nizhny won this game on defense.

Comments
Carlos Frade. VEF’s head coach.
Although I’m obviously disappointed, I think we’ve shown improvement in each game. Nizhny deserved their win, but I think my players went out there and competed like men. We have to improve on defense. I won’t look for excuses, we have to and will get better.

Ainars Bagatskis. Nizhny Novgorod’s head coach.
VEF uses many players in their rotation and they rely a lot on long distance shooting. They were hitting the shots in the 1st which gave them the chance to hang with us. We let our guard down a little bit and forgot about their big men on defense. Maynor went down with an injury, we’ll see how he does on the physical. We were at times missing a player who could create his own shot.