# 2017–18 Baltic Basketball League

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.

## 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.
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.

## Team information

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

## Regular season
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Qualification |
| 1 | Jūrmala | 10 | 9 | 1 | 823 | 689 | +134 | Qualification to playoffs |
| 2 | Šiauliai | 10 | 9 | 1 | 898 | 713 | +185 | Qualification to playoffs |
| 3 | AVIS Utilitas Rapla | 10 | 5 | 5 | 788 | 786 | +2 | Qualification to playoffs |
| 4 | Port of Pärnu | 10 | 3 | 7 | 757 | 788 | −31 | Qualification to playoffs |
| 5 | Betsafe Liepāja | 10 | 3 | 7 | 612 | 765 | −153 | |
| 6 | Tsmoki-Minsk II | 10 | 1 | 9 | 686 | 823 | −137 | |
| 7 | Vytautas (D) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Disqualified |
* ↑ Vytautas forfeit and was consequently disqualified.

### Group B

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

## 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.

### Bracket

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

### Finals

| Team #1 | Agg. | Team #2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Jūrmala | 148–174 | Pieno žvaigždės | 80–98 | 68–76 |

#### Game 1

* 28 March 2018 19:00
* Boxscore
| Jūrmala | 80–98 | 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
* Boxscore
| Pieno žvaigždės | 76–68 | 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
* Pieno žvaigždės 1st title

## Awards
### MVP of the Month

| Month | Player | Team |
| November 2017 | Steven Cook | University of Tartu |
| December 2017 | Laurynas Birutis | Šiauliai |
| January 2018 | Janar Talts | University of Tartu |
| February 2018 | Ivars Žvīgurs | Jūrmala |
| March 2018 | Laurynas Birutis (2) | Šiauliai |
Source: BBL Homepage

### Finals MVP

* Jahenns Manigat ( Pieno žvaigždės)

## Player statistics

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

### Points

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

### Assists

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

### Rebounds

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

### Efficiency

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