February 09, 2012
The Club Scene: Barons/LMT Riga
Barons / LMT Riga Barons, 2008 Latvian League ChampBarons/LMT Riga has played an important role in the recent resurgence of basketball in Latvia and now the local champs are in the midst of a new challenge in their first season in Europe’s second competition. The start was rough with back-to-back games against proven powers Dynamo Moscow and Unics Kazan, but now coming off its first win – and on the road no less – Barons are ready to make some noise in the second half of the regular season and in years to come. In fact, Barons needed only two-and-a-half years to go from a newcomer that lost all but one game in the elimination round to win the FIBA EuroCup last April. And one thing is for sure - you better keep these guys at a distance in decisive games, as their incredible team spirit carries Barons to victories in the end. Last season, Barons beat its opponents by only a single point in both the final game of the Latvian League and the FIBA EuroCup final to celebrate the team’s first national crown as well as Latvia’s first European title in almost half a century.

It’s not easy for a team to establish itself as the basketball leader of Riga nor Latvia, a city and a country of great basketball traditions. For Barons/LMT it all began in 1992, when it was known by a different name, Princips. After the Soviet League dissolved following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a brand new Latvian Basketball League was founded, and Princips was one of the original teams to participate, winning bronze by the end of the debut season. Moderate success followed with another bronze in 1994 and fourth-place finishes in 1995, 1996 and 1998. At the same time, the club, whose name changed to LainERS in 1994, helped develop the Latvian League with its visionary ideas, as LainERS became the first Latvian team to sign an American player or to entertain its fans with cheerleaders.

The fall of 2001 marked a new beginning for the club, as it adopted the name of Barons that would make the team famous throughout of Europe. Little by little, Barons rebuilt itself and became one of the top teams in Latvia, finishing third in the Latvian League in 2004. Over the next two years, Barons continued its progress by reaching the Latvian League finals, but was not yet ready to dethrone perennial champion Ventspils. Arturs Brunins scored 22 points and helped Barons gain a halftime-lead in the final game of the Latvian 2005-06 season, but Ventspils would come back to win the game 100-83 and defeat Barons for the fourth time in as many finals games – just like the year before. However, that season gave Barons priceless experiences, as the team competed in international competitions for the first time in history. And though Barons only managed to win one out of six games in the FIBA Eurocup, beating Germany’s Telekom Baskets 87-70 behind 20 points from veteran star Ainars Bagatskis, the SEB Baltic League was a different story. Barons finished fifth with an impressive 23-9 record in the regular season before falling to Siauliai in the Final Six.

Steve Rich - Barons/LMT RigaBarons and its fans marked the start of the 2006-2007 season by setting a record, as 11,500 spectators attended its Baltic League home game against the region’s most famous team, Zalgiris Kaunas. Barons would lose the game and fail to improve on the previous season’s Baltic League success, losing to Tallin’s Kalev/Cramo in a two-games series. The Latvian League marked another minor setback for Barons, who lost the semifinal series 2-3 to Riga rival ASK. And the FIBA EuroCup did not bring any luck for Barons, who were winless in six games, but it was all just a bump in the road. Few people could imagine then that next year Barons would learn to win close games and turn it all around.

Karlis Muiznieks became the team’s new head coach prior to the 2007-2008 season, having some big shoes to fill, as Barons had been previously coached by a number of heavyweights, including former Latvian legends Ainars Bagatskis, Gundars Vetra and even Olympic Champion Igors Miglinieks. But Barons Muiznieks was probably the most successful Latvian coach of the generation, as he led Ventspils to multiple Latvian League titles as well as success in the Baltic League. He also guided the underdog Latvian national team to a victory in the qualifying round of the European Championships that gave Latvia a spot at the main event in Serbia and Montenegro in 2005. Lots of drama awaited Muznieks and Barons already in the elimination round of the FIBA EuroCup. After topping Iscar Nahariya 81-77 in Riga, Barons traveled to Israel and survived thanks to an 83-80 loss. Leabing by a single aggregate point, Barons prevented Nahariya from scoring on the game’s last possession to advance to the group stage by the slimmest of margins. After finishing next round with 4 victories and 2 losses, Barons found Croatian KK Zagreb standing in its way to the Final Four in a best-of-three series. The first and second games were won by the home teams, setting the stage for a decisive third game in Riga. 8,500 fans carried Barons to a 96-91 victory, as Armands Skele paced the hosts with 20 points and Dainius Adomaitis added 19. At the Final Four in Cyprus, Barons came back from an 18-point deficit to overcome Estonia’s Tartu Rock 88-82 as Demetrius Alexander shined with 25 points. Then, in the final game, Barons fulfilled the dream by edging Belgium’s Dexia Mons-Hainaut 63-62, once again earning the victory with a defensive stop on the last possession. Skele was magnificent with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, but it was fellow guard Giedrius Gustas, who led all scorers with 17 points, that became the MVP of the Final Four.

Demetrius Alexander - Barons/LMT RigaBarons became the first Latvian team to win a European title since ASK Riga took its last in 1960. And with Barons getting the attention now, ASK was committed to downing its Riga rival, defeating Barons in the third-place game of the Baltic League – the furthest both teams ever advanced in the competition. But Barons would take some sweet revenge later in May, overwhelming ASK 4-1 in a best-of-seven series to win the Latvian crown for the first time in the club’s history. The fifth game of the series was yet another thriller, which Barons won by only a single point. Skele was named playoffs MVP after averaging 16.4 points a game. The distinct tastes of success and trophies have only pushed the club to new heights as Barons/LMT Riga continues to grow with its eyes on continuing to dominate at home while developing into a true force to be reckoned with in European competitions, starting now in the Eurocup.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Eurocupbasketball.com
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