VTB United league 2019/2020
Kalev
Tallinn
VTB United League, Regular season
25.11.2019, 23:00 Mon
Arena: Kalev Sports Hall (Tallinn)
84:76
Main time
15:19 25:17 31:17 13:23
Game number: RS-48
Spectators: 750
Astana
Astana

Tallinn is the next stop of «Astana» in VTB United League 

22.11.2019, 08:00    Просмотров: 483
Источник: Press service
Автор:
The presidential basketball club “Astana” will hold the second away match of the VTB United League in a row, and this time the Estonian “Kalev” will be the rival of the capital's team. In the upcoming game, «Astana» will again make every effort to win the first guest victory of the season.

«Kalev» - is an Estonian professional men's basketball club from the city of Tallinn, founded in 1944.

Achievements:
  • Champion of the USSR — 1991
  • Champion of Estonia — 2000, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016-2019
  • Silver medalist of the Estonian Championship 2015
  • Estonian Cup Winner — 2005-2008, 2016-2017

In the offseason, the club replaced the head coach of the Lithuanian Donaldas Kairis,  and appointed Latvian Roberts Stelmacher, who began his career in basketball as a player, back in 1990. During his career as a player, he became the winner of EuroCup, twice champion of the Baltic League, three times champion of Latvia, champion of Poland, Slovenia and Lithuania, as well as the winner of the Super Cup of Poland, the Cup of the President of Turkey, the Cup of Slovenia and twice the Super Cup of Slovenia. Roberts began his coaching career in 2009 with the Lithuanian «Perlas». Then he was an assistant at «Lietuvos Rytas» and the Latvian National Team. During his career, he managed to be the head coach in the Lithuanian “Pen Zhvayzhdes”, the Latvian “Valmiera” and the Polish “Czarni Slupsk”. But most of the time, for 5 seasons, Stelmacher headed the Latvian “Ventspils”, with whom he was the champion of the Baltic League, twice the champion of Latvia, and last season he won the Latvian-Estonian basketball League. In addition to «Kalev», he is currently the head coach of the Latvian National Team.



In the offseason, all foreign players had left the team, including American leaders Arnett Moultrie, who plays for «Parma» this season, and Chavon Lewis, who moved to «Nizhny Novgorod», as well as Serb Branko Mirkovic, who returned to «Tsmoki-Minsk» this season. The  Americans Reggie Lynch and Tony Rothen left the team, as well as the Belarusian Maxim Salash, who signed with «Tsmoki-Minsk». Also, three local players do not play for «Kalev» any more: Tanel Sokk, Madis Soodla, Eric Keedus, although you cannot name them key players. Thus, in the offseason, the Tallinn team retained only four players, and all of them are Estonians: Tanel Kurbas, Christian Kangur, Martin Dorbek and Christian Kitsing, and, by the way, they all came out in the starting five more than once.

Thus, this season the team has changed beyond recognition. Three Americans joined the ranks of «Kalev» at once, and all of them will make their debut in VTB United League. Guard Kyle Vinales, who previously played in Puerto Rico, Tunisia (2015 champion) and Cyprus. Forward Calvin Godfrey has performed in Lebanon, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Turkey. Forward Jonathan Holton managed to play in Lebanon and Argentina. The Latvian guard Aigars Skele also appeared in the team, who in the 2014/2015 season played in the VTB United League as part of «VEF», and also managed to play for such Latvian teams as «Barons», «Jurmala» and «Ventspils», with which he became a champion of Latvia. And in “Kalev” Aigars moved from the French team “Antibes Sharks”. In addition, it is worth noting two more imports American Antino Jackson, with whom the contract was broken before the start of the season and Englishman Ryan Richards, who left the team, after two games. From the Estonians, Janari Joesaar, who last season played for «Kalev», but didn’t play until the end of the season, as well as Stan Sokk, who returned to «Kalev», after one season for the Greek club «Iraklis», returned to the team. There are two more young newcomers, Sander Raieste and Martin Paasi.



Leaders of the rivals: after seven matches held, the leaders of «Kalev» are the guards American Kyle Vinales, who plays the most time on the court, scores the most points and makes the most assists per game, as well as the Latvian Aigars Skele, who is now the most effective in the team . Estonian forwards Christian Kangur and Christian Kitsing come out at the start in all games and spend more than 20 minutes per match. Also, Estonian defenders Stan Sokk and Martin Dorbek and shooting guard Janari Joesaar spend about 20 minutes on the court on avarage. The Americans Jonathan Holton and Calvin Godfrey have not yet shown themselves, Jonathan played in the last two games, and Calvin took part only in the last match.

Tournament position: “Astana” after three difficult but victorious home matches, lost in an away game with «Avtodor» and now has 50% of victories and defeats. The team of Emil Rajkovic takes 8th line of the standings. “Kalev” has spent seven games, winning three. It is worth considering that the Estonians defeated «Nizhny Novgorod» away, and beat «UNICS» and «Zenit» at home. But during the last three games, “Kalev” lost on the road and is clearly burning with a desire to rehabilitate in the eyes of their fans. The Estonian team is next to «Astana» in the standings.

History of games:  «Astana» and «Kalev» met 14 times and all the games were held within the VTB United League. The first game was held in the distant season 2011/2012, and then “Astana” won two victories. In the next 4 seasons, the teams met 6 more times, since in the 2013/2014 season the teams were in different groups and did not meet. In all 6 matches our guys celebrated a victory. In the 2016/2017 season, “Kalev” beat “Astana” twice, and in the last two seasons, the teams won their home matches. Thus, out of 14 games, Astana won 10 wins and had 4 losses.

Interesting Facts:
  • Last season, “Astana” beat “Kalev” in a home match with a difference of 27 points, but lost in Estonia with a difference of 28 points.
  • The last three seasons, “Astana” was not able to overcome the opponents in away games
 

The match will take place on Monday, on November 25 in Tallinn at the Kalev Sports Hall arena, beginning at 23:00 Nur-Sultan time. The live broadcast of the match will be available on our website in the Match Center section.

Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule and match results are published in the Tournaments section.

Information about the opponent

Established year: 1920 Team colors: white, blue
Country: Estonia Arena: Kalev Sports Hall
City: Tallinn Website: www.bckalev.ee

Description

«Kalev» is an Estonian professional men's basketball team from the city of Tallinn, founded in 1920. In addition to participating in VTB United League, the team is playing in the Estonian Championship.
  
Achievements:
  • Champion of the USSR — 1991
  • Winner of the Estonian Championship — 2000, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016-2019, 2021
  • Silver medalist of the Estonian Championship — 2015
  • Winner of the Estonian Cup — 2005-2008, 2016, 2017, 2020

Overall team photo

Kalev