RIGA (Latvia) - For at least a couple of hours, you couldn't be blamed if you thought FIBA EuroBasket 2025 was taking place in Tallinn rather than in Riga.
More than 8,000 Estonian fans made the trip to the Latvian capital, and made their players feel at home in a crucial matchup with Czechia in Group A.
With the blue sea behind them, Heiko Rannula's men stormed to a massive first half en route to an 89-75 win, adding a valuable win to their account at FIBA EuroBasket 2025.
While Estonia climbed to 1-2 on the shoulders of their incredible raucous fans, Czechia are down in a 0-3 hole now.
Turning Point
Estonia poured in 31 points in the second quarter, scoring with ease, 14 of those coming from the painted area during those ten minutes.
By comparison, Czechia had a total of 16 paint points through the first 30 minutes of the game.
With no defense in front of them and having fun scoring, Estonia's lead ballooned to +28 midway through the third quarter, and it was only going to go one way after that.
TCL Player of the Game
A player wearing #77 flirting getting close to a triple-double is something we're used to, but it was another #77 this time.
Kristian Kullamae was the motor for everything Estonia did on Saturday, getting 16 points without forcing the issue, while also grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing out 7 assists.
Honorable mention: Henri Drell with 15 points off the bench.
Stats Don't Lie
Estonia won every single department of the boxscore, but perhaps the most important part was that they had just 4 turnovers in this game, staying under control from start to finish.
They came close to tying the all-time record, set by Yugoslavia (vs Croatia in 2001), tied by Italy twice (vs Türkiye in 2007, vs Spain in 2015) with just 3 turnovers.
Bottom Line
Sunday is rest day for these teams, much needed after two exhausting games over the past 48 hours. On Monday, Estonia take on Türkiye, and then face Portugal in their final group game on Wednesday.
Czechia will be disappointed not to have picked up a win so far, especially because they still have to face Serbia and Latvia. Martin Peterka was again their best player, scoring 13 points off the bench.
They Said
For more quotes, tune in to the official post-game press conference!
FIBA