Great game for the Latvians
Latvia continued with great games in the qualifiers for the World Cup. The guests, led from the bench by the European champion, Ergin Ataman, were outclassed in Riga. Latvia ended up winning 111-85. A few years ago, these two national teams also played in the qualifiers for the world championship held in China. Then the Latvians also won in Riga, but it was not as convincing as now. With this convincing victory, Latvia is one step closer to the World Cup. In the continuation of the qualification, the Turks will have to work hard to secure a place in the mentioned championship. Their main rivals will be Greece and Serbia, with whom they will play in three days in Istanbul.
The Turks faded after good start
When you receive 111 points you have nothing to hope against any opponent. Already in the first half, the home team had a big advantage. Even in the first half, we could see that the Turks would not have a good time in Riga. Turkey started the game well and led 9-3. That would turn out to be the only good thing we saw from the Turks in this game. Very quickly the Latvians got back into the game and at the end of the first quarter they had an advantage of 11 points. In the second part of the game, the home team had an advantage of almost 20 points. At the break, the score was 56-47 in favor of the home team. The Turks could be overjoyed with this result.
Latvia scored 20 3-point shoots
In the second half, there was only one team on the field. The Latvians settled the game in the third quarter in which they had an advantage of almost 25 points. In the last quarter, the home team led with +30 at one point. As the tradition of Baltic basketball dictates, the Latvians shot brilliantly for three points. They scored as many as 20 goals from 35 attempts. The Turks were quite solid with 12 goals, but they shot terribly for two points. They only had four more interceptions for two points than for three points.
Porzingis and Bertans as leaders in Latvia
In the winning team, the best results were achieved by NBA stars Kristaps Porzingis and Davis Bertans. Porzingis scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Bertans followed him with 17 points. Lomazs scored 15 points while Smiths added 11 points. In the visiting team, the leader of Anadolu Efes, Shane Larkin scored 15 points. Cleveland Cavaliers player Cedi Osman achieved the same performance. Latvians now have a score of 4-1 and in the next round they visit Great Britain. Turkey is now 2-3 and welcomes Serbia with the same win-loss record.