Now or Never / Semi Finals

Hi, I'm starting a new dynasty, in which i will play with national team of Latvia. At first there will be a european championship, then, if Latvia qualifies the World Championship. This is something different from a regular dynasty, so i hope you'll enjoy it.

Settings:

Team: National Team of Latvia
Game: NBA Live 06
Roster: Nteams 06 edited by me
Skill level: All-star/Superstar
Quarter lenght: 6min

The Candidates:

Name /Overall/

Centers

Andris Biedrins /76/ Kaspars Kambala /75/

Power Forwards

Kaspars Berzins /74/ Uvis Helmanis /64/ Rolands Freimanis /66/

Small Forwards

Gatis Jahovics /72/ Ernests Kalve /70/ Kristaps Janicenoks /73/

Shooting Guards

Armands Skele /73/ Sandis Valters /69/ Aigars Vitols /68/ Dairis Bertans /65/

Point Guards

Kristaps Valters /70/ Janis Blums /71/ Janis Strelnieks /65/

Staff:

Head Coach

Kestutis Kemzura

Assistants

Igors Miglinieks /// Edmunds Valeiko

General Manager

Edgars Buls

Last edited by newc on Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:05 pm, edited 11 times in total.

Short News

Bertans, Strelnieks joining national team of Latvia

The european U20 championship has ended today with a victory of Greece's young players. Latvia ended tournament in a dissapointing 10th place, which is a big slide from a 3rd place this team achieved 2 years ago in U18 championship. Shooting guard Dairis Bertans was the teams best scorer with 16.3 ppg(5th in the tournament), Point guard Janis Strelnieks followed him with 14 ppg(15th in the tournament). Both will join the candidates of National team of Latvia, to try to get into roster and go to European championship 2009.

Biedrins wants to win a medal

"I think we can do it, I think we can get to the medal position this year" said Andris Biedrins to reporters earlier today "This year we have all the best players, we can get, so it's now or never" Is it possible that Latvia could get a medal? Well, Valdis Valters, coach and former latvian basketball star wrote this on Twitter: "Andris, stop dreaming!"

Kambala ready to take the 6th man role

One of the best centers in the history of latvian basketball, Kaspars Kambala, is ready to step back and let Biedrins start over him "It's not important who's starting, who's playing the biggest minutes. We have to play like team and only then we can hope for a good result" stated Kaspars.


Latvia will play with Lithuania, Turkey, Ukraine

The group lottery of European Championship 2009 was held today, Latvia will play in group D with Lithuania, Turkey and Ukraine. "This is a hard group, but there is no easy ones in european championship" said Kestutis Kemzura, head coach of Latvia "It's intriguing, that we will have to face Lithuania, my home country. It's a very strong team, possibly the best in Europe. Turkey with Okur and Turkoglu is dangerous too and Ukraine is pretty good team too." said the coach "But I think we can take the 2nd or 3rd place in this group"

Latvia will play 3 friendly matches

After the lottery General Manager of team Latvia, Edgars Buls announced that Latvia will play 3 practice games before the championship. They will be against Bulgaria, Israel and Italy. "In first to games we wont be playing in best roster, because ther are other players I want to see, but against Italy we will play with 12 players, who will go to European Championship" said head coach Kemzura. All of the games will be held in Riga, Latvia.

I will follow because it's my neighbor-country and the idea is good. Although Biedrins should be rated higher. Also Skele IMO.

Good luck!

Martti, thanks for reply hope you'll enjoy this

Interesting idea man, will follow

I will follow because it's my neighbor-country and the idea is good. Although Biedrins should be rated higher. Also Skele IMO.

Good luck!

About Biedrins, i think his overall rating is very realistic, because he hasnt got very high center skills and power. So i mean, that Biedrins vs. Centers like Dampier, Dalembert, Shaq will blow on defense.

Latvia beats Bulgaria in first practice game

Latvia took an early lead 5-0 to start the game, Jahovics scored 4 of teams first 5 points. In the end of quarter 1 Bulgaria took it's firste lead 20-19, but Latvia soon regained the lead when Kambala dunked the ball into the basket. 21-20 in favour for Latvia after the first quarter. The second quarter started evenly 26-25 after 2 minutes of play in 2nd quarter, but then Vitols stepped in - he made 3 three-pointers and it helped to be at 43-30 lead after the first half. Player at the half for Latvia was Gatis Jahovics with 6pts, 4rebs, 3ast and 1stl, the best player for Bulgaria was F.Videnov, who had 10 points. In the 3rd quarter Vitols continued to shoot the lights out and with help from Kambala and Helmanis Latvia had the biggest lead of the game at the end of 3rd quarter 66-48. The 4th quarter started with a run from Bulgaria - leaded by Stoykov they got close 73-65, but right then Janis Blums stepped in to make a 3pointer, which gave Latvia a comfortable 11 point lead. Latvia held it until the end of the game and won 89-79

Player of the game:

Kaspars Kambala 19pts 4rebs 1ast 1blk

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

U.Helmanis 15/5/1/0/0
A.Vitols 15/1/3/0/0
E.Kalve 7/2/3/2/2
G.Jahovics 6/6/5/0/1
R.Freimanis 7/6/4/0/1


Bulgaria

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

F.Videnov 19/1/1/0/0
Y.Bozov 18/3/6/0/2
T.Stoykov 15/3/1/0/1

Highlights:

Bertans scores 2 and draws a foul
Freimanis dunks the ball
Jahovics on a fast break
Kambala showing who's the boss

Coach Kemzura's quotes:

R.Freimanis really surprised me tonight, he showed a great court vision for a big man, four passes he made just proves it. I really like how he can play with his face to the basket, but some post moves could be really great. He's definetly closer to getting to the championship than before the game. On the other side D.Bertans dissapointed me, he took 5 three-pointers, but none hit the target. He wasn't showing a game I want to see from a Under20 team leader. A.Vitols is known as a great defensive player, but today he was great on offense too, if he continues to play like this, he is a real candidate on getting to the championship.

thierryhenry50 thanks, hope you'll enjoy this.

redhotz thanks for posting, and yeah i agree with you.

Breaking News!

Have you ever dreamed to play for your National team in the world championships? Now you have the chance, just send me the information requested below and your virtual player will play in the Championship!

Info needed:

Name:
Surname:
Birthdate:
Team:
Jersey number:
Primary Position:
Secondary Position:
School:
Height:
Weight:
Skin tone:
Appearance(tatoos, socks, sleeves):
Strengths and weaknesses:
Your style of play:
Background story, if you want(the ones with good background stories will be included 100%):
Anything else:

Unfortunately not all the national teams are included in the patch so here is the list of nations you can apply for:

Angola
Argentina
Australia
Bosnia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
China
Croatia
France
Germany
Greece
Israel
Italy
Japan
Lebanon
Lithuania
New Zealand
Nigeria
Panama
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Russia
Senegal
Serbia
Slovenia
Spain
Turkey
USA
Ukraine
Venezuela

The europeans will be included in European Championship rosters too

p.s. any other suggestions how to make this dynasty better are welcomed.

holy... Jahovics's got MAD HOPS this is great man - keep it up!

Reminds me of my 2006 World Championship Dynasty I did back in 06. That was a lot of fun. Nice to see everyone (you, homicide, me) getting into international basketball fever

And I will apply to be in a national team

Hard win over Israel

Despite Israel's great three-point shooting, Latvia managed to win the second practice game 89-85. The game started with both teams shooting the lights off, there wasn't many shots missing in the 1st quarter, wich ended 27-24 in slight favour for team Latvia. In the second quarter led by Janicenoks Latvia managed to get a 8 point lead - 40-32, but Israel reduced it to 5, when final horn of 1st half was ringing - 46:41 after the first half. Best player in team Latvia after the half was Armands Skele with 12 points and 2 assists, on the opponents side it was Halperin who got the honour with 8 points and 2 assists. The second half started with a run from Israel and result was 46-46, but then Latvia scored 11 points in a row to grab a 57-46 lead. However in the end of 3rd quarter the lead was only 65-59. Israels weren't giving up and stayed close all of the last quarter. 37,7 seconds till final horn, they was only 2 points short 85-83, but the Skele made a important layup, but on the other side of court Israel made a jump shot and it was 7 seconds till and a 2 point lead for Latvia. Kristaps Valters had the ball, he avoided the intentional foul by passing the ball to Biedrins and then israels made the foul, it was 3,7 seconds till end and Biedrins had to shoot two. Everyone in arena was nervous, but Biedrins stayed calm and made both, Latvia won 89-85.

Player of the game:

Andris Biedrins 16pts 6rebs 2ast 5blk 2stl

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

A.Skele 21/1/6/0/2
K.Janicenoks 15/1/6/1/0
K.Berzins 12/1/0/1/0

Israel

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

G.Shelef 23/1/2/0/1
M.Tapiro 14/2/5/0/2
T.Burstein 14/1/2/0/2

Highlights:

Berzins blocks the shot
Access Denied
Skele with a nice dunk
Biedrins does it again
Young Freimanis scores plus draws a foul
Biedrins can score too

Coach Kemzura's quotes

Biedrins and Skele tonight showed that they can be a deadly duo for everyone, I hope they'll play like this in the championship. Young guys Freimanis and Strelnieks surprised me again, especially Strelnieks, who had 9 assists. I really don't know which 3 players not to take to the Championship. Kambala is great at 6th man role and he can play together with Biedrins too. Kristaps Valters didn't show his best game tonight, he had 5 turnovers, hope he gets into his best form when championship start, same thing about his brother Sandis.

______________________________________________________________
Sit, Clutch thanks for comments guys

P.S. Still waiting PMs about getting your virtual player in this dynasty

Sent you my info. Nice recaps.

Biedrins played a nice game!

I won't be sending info. Our national team isn't on the list and I won't represent any other country.

But I'll still be following.

I won't be sending info. Our national team isn't on the list and I won't represent any other country.

But I'll still be following.

Same here.

thierryhenry50 thanks.

Martti, ratrac yeah shame that Estonia wasn't included in the patch. Would be lots of fun beating them

You got the info .
Good luck with this.

Latvia surprisingly beats Italy

Thanks to great game from Janis Blums, Latvia managed to beat strong Italy with NBA players Bargnani, Belinelli and Gallinari on the roster 94-87. The first quarter was an evenly matched battle - both teams struggled to take a lead bigger than 2 or 3 points. End of quarter 1 the scoreboard showed a tie 22-22. At the 2nd quarter Italy started to show some quality of their team and gained a 7 point lead in the middle of 2nd quarter 35-28, but Latvia managed to tie the score until end of first half which ended at 46-46. The best player for Latvia at the half was PG Janis Blums, who had 9 points 2 assists and 3 steals, the best player for Italy was G.Pozzecco with 13 points. The second half started with a pressure from Italy and it helped them to take a slight lead. Only in the middle of 3rd quarter thanks to Blums and Kambala Latvia had the first lead 60-59, which later extended to a 67-59 lead. Latvia held the lead until the end of 3rd quarter 70-64. A the last quarter Latvia got a 10 point lead 81-71 majorly thanks to great lay from Biedrins and Kambala in the paint, but Italy didn't give it up as they got close to just 4 points 87-83, but Latvia managed to hold the lead and won the game 94-87.

Player of the game:

Kaspars Kambala 17pts 8rebs 1blk

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

A.Biedrins 18/4/0/1/0
K.Janicenoks 15/3/1/0/1
J.Blums 14/1/2/0/4
A.Skele 13/2/3/0/0

Italy

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

G.Pozzecco 23/2/5/0/1
D.Gallinari 22/3/5/2/1
G.Galanda 16/3/0/0/0

Highlights:

Dunk by Biedrins
One of Four Blums's steals
Kambala dunks
Janicenoks had a hot hand tonight

Coach Kemzura's quotes

Tonight we proved that we can play and win any national team there is. Biedrins and Kambala had a great game in the paint. Janicenoks showed something of his outside game and it's really tremendous. Blums with his steals was also great, all of them converting into two points. I think we are ready for the championship, Turkey beware!

Latvia's roster for European Championship announced


Name: Andris Biedrins
Position: Center
Height: 6'11"
Weight: 240lbs
Projected role: Starter, probably biggest playing time in the team
Stats in practice games: 17ppg 5rpg 1apg 3bpg 1spg

Biedrins is the biggest star of the team and the biggest reason why Latvia is playing here. He will be one of the best scorers and rebounders in the team and maybe championship.


Name: Kaspars Kambala
Position: Center
Height: 6'9"
Weight: 252lbs
Projected Role: 6th man
Stats in practice games: 18ppg 4.3rpg 0.3apg 0.6bpg

Kambala is a big man with best post moves in team Latvia. He is a great offensive threat, but has to work on his defense. Maybe the second biggest star in the team. Former boxer, so other teams should respect him.


Name: Kaspars Berzins
Position: Power Forward
Height: 6'11"
Weight: 235lbs
Projected role: Starter
Stats in practice games: 10.5ppg 3rpg 1apg 1bpg

Young Power Forward brings outside shooting and blocking to the Latvia's frontcourt. Could be a great help in scoring, and on defensive end


Name: Uvis Helmanis
Positions: Power Forward
Height: 6'9"
Weight: 253lbs
Projected Role: Bench player, some minutes of playing time
Stats in practice games: 7.5ppg 2.5rpg 0.5apg

Helmanis is the most experienced player in the team, he's also the team captain. He can shoot a three-pointer, but his inside game is not so good anymore. But for some minutes he can really help.


Name: Rolands Freimanis
Position: Power Forward
Height: 6'7"
Weight: 209lbs
Projected ROle: Bench player, some minutes of playing time
Stats in practice games: 8ppg 5rpg 2apg 0.5bpg 0.5apg

Undersized, young power forward Freimanis, surprised everyone with his game in the practice games. He can shoot a mid range jump shot, play great face to basket game. But in the championship he won't see big playing time because the are better players in front of him.


Name: Kristaps Janicenoks
Position: Small Forward/Shooting Guard
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 200lbs
Projected Role: Starter, one of the playing time in team
Stats in practice games: 15ppg 2rpg 3.5apg 0.5bpg 0.5spg

Kristaps is a shooting guard, but has to play at small forward spot, because of lack of good players in this position for Latvia. But possibly against teams like Turkey, where are big SF's, he'll play as SG. Great shooter, can kill opposite team just by himself. Second or sometimes first option in offense for Latvia.


Name: Gatis Jahovics
Position: Small Forward
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 203lbs
Projected Role: Rotation player, some games starter
Stats in practice games: 3ppg 2.7rpg 2apg 0.3spg

The only real Small Forward in the team, could see some big minutes against teams with tall Small Forwards. Is a great defender, doesn't do much on offense.


Name: Armands Skele
Position: Shooting Guard
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 200lbs
Projected Role: Starter, one of the biggest playing time in team
Stats in practice games: 17ppg 1.5rpg 4.5apg 1spg

Doesn't have a hot hand behind the arc, but can shoot a nice midrange jumper. Has a great drive and ability to dribble the ball. If wants can play good on defense too. One of the teams leaders.


Name: Sandis Valters
Position: Shooting Guard
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 200lbs
Projected Role: Rotation player
Stats in practice games: 4ppg 1rpg 3apg 1spg

Sharpshooter, can kill opponents with his three-point shooting, like he almost did with Spain couple of years ago. Is a pretty good defender.


Name: Kristaps Valters
Position: Point Guard
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 170lbs
Projected Role: Starter, sharing minutes evenly with Blums
Stats in practice games: 2.5ppg 3.5apg

Brother of Sandis. Quick, good passer, can shoot a trey, but can turnover the ball too often. Starts the championship as the first point guard, but it can change.


Name: Janis Blums
Position: Point Guard
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 187lbs
Projected Role: Rotation player, sharing minutes evenly with K.Valters
Stats in practice games: 10ppg 0.5rpg 3apg 2spg

Great three-point shooter, pretty good defender. Lacks skills of playmaker, his playing style is more like a shooting guards style. Can be the starting PG at the end of tournament.


Name: Janis Strelnieks
Position: Point Guard
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 161lbs
Projected Role: Bench player, maybe some minutes of playing time
Stats in practice games: 3.5ppg 1rpg 6apg 1.5spg

Young Point Guard showed great performance in practice games, and now he's in the roster for championship. Unfortunately he won't see many minutes at the championship, maybe no minutes at all. Has a great court vision, can score by many ways, but lacks experience, thing that he will gain in this championship.

Nice work. Good luck in championship. I will follow this project, because i'm also from Latvia. Is there any players that stayed home?

Nice work. Good luck in championship. I will follow this project, because i'm also from Latvia. Is there any players that stayed home?

Thanks. yes Bertans, Vitols and Kalve didn't make the roster

Latvia beats Turkey

Thanks to a great game by Kaspars Kambala Latvia has won it's first European championship 2009 game against Turkey 94-77. The game started with a slight lead from Turkey 6-3, they controlled the game most of the first quarter, but at the end thanks to couple of treys from Blums and Sandis Valters Latvia managed to be ahead after the first quarter 25-19. The second quarter was a real battle of two evenly matched teams, Latvia was ahead, but not more than 6 points, but then Armands Skele stepped in. He made some great lay ups, dished some nice passes and at the end of first half LAtvia was ahead by ten 48-38. The best players at the half was both teams biggest stars Biedrins and Turkoglu. Turkey started the second half hard and got close as of 6 points 52-46, but the LAtvia switched it to 5th gear and took a 11 point lead after the quarter 69-58. Turkey battled a bit in the start of quarter 4, but soon gave up, so Latvia won this easy 94-77.

Player of the Game:

Kaspars Kambala 18pts 9rebs 1ast

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

K.Berzins 12/4/2/1/0
K.Janicenoks 12/2/0/0/0
A.Biedrins 10/6/3/1/0
A.Skele 9/0/7/0/3
S.Valters 11/1/1/0/0


Turkey

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

I.Kutluay 23/0/6/0/1
H.Turkoglu 16/3/3/0/1

Highlights:

Berzins denies opponents shot
Kambala with a nice dunk
Skele dunks the ball
Jahovics with a huge block
A circus shot from Skele

In other games:

Group A

Spain 89-74 Bosnia & Herzegovina
Spain showed why they are the favourites of this tournament, they played with Bosnia like cat plays with a mouse. Spain easely took the lead in first quarter and never gave it back. The player of the game was Juan Carlos Navarro, who had 23 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds.

Italy 96-88 Croatia
A more interesting matchup was between Italy and Croatia, this was a battle for second place in the group and a better position starting next stage of tournament. Despite a dissapointing game from Bargnani, Italy managed to take the game, mostly thanks to a great game from Gallinari and Belinelli. Gallinari scored 29 points, while Beli added 22/

Group B

Serbia 96-99 Israel
The first surprise of the tournament, thiny Israels beat the mighty Serbs. Stojakovic had a great game scoring 29 points and grabbing 9 rebounds, but Israel won the game thanks to a final seconds shot from Burstein, who scored 31 points tonight.

Greece 97-68 Slovenia
"You should be affraid of Greece" that was the message Greeks sended to other teams tonight. They just destroyed Sasha Vujacic and the Slovenian team. Papaloukas had 21 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds, on the other side Vujacic scored 26 points, but it just wasn't enough.

Group C

France 75-77 Bulgaria
Another surprise of the tournament comes from Bulgaria. Who would've known that Bulgaria will show any sign of fighting against France, but they were just great tonight. Led by their leader T.Stoykov and showing a great defense they managed to beat France. Stoykov had 19 points and 7 rebounds. Boris Diaw was the best scorer on France's squad with 17 points, he also got 12 rebounds.

Russia 85-91 Germany
Led by their leader Dirk Nowitzki Germans snatched a win from Russians and took a great step to end the first stage of tournament as leaders of Group C. Nowitzki scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, on the other side S.Monia had 15 points.

Group D

Lithuania 100-95 Ukraine
Lithuanians struggled against surprisngly well playing Ukraine, but managed to beat them thanks to a great performance from "Big Z" Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. D.Paulauskas added 16 points and 5 assists.

NLSCers in the championship:

Will Sit / Spain
Young and promising Australian Will Sit, who surprisingly accepted to play for Spain in the European Championship, had a dissapointing first game. Although his team won, he didn't made a bucket. He had only 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal in the game. Hard to get point when you're in one team with Gasol, Garbajosa, Navarro, Fernandez, Rubio and other great players.

Donatas Paulauskas / Lithuania
Other NLSCer in the tournament showed a much better game. Lithuania won and Paulauskas was one of the best players in the team with 16 points 5 assists and 4 steals. Macijauskas has to start worry about his starting spot. In the next game Donatas will try to beat neighbours from Latvia.

Sit, why betray your Australian basketball fans? Lol... Nice start newc.

I'd like to throw my two cents in but I'm not all too knowledgeable in the European leagues. Hell, the only name I recognize is Andris Biedrins. Overall, it's shaping up to be a pretty solid dynasty though, I'll be attempting to follow this despite my limited Euroleague background.

thierryhenry50 Thanks man!

Its_asdf Well, I guess you'll like this better when World Championship starts, because Canadians will take part in it