2017–18 LKL season

Betsafe-LKL
Season2017–18
DurationSeptember 2017 – June 2018
Games played220 (regular season)
Teams10
Regular season
Season MVPLaurynas Birutis
RelegatedVytautas
Finals
ChampionsŽalgiris (20th title)
  Runners-upLietuvos rytas
Third placeNeptūnas
Fourth placeLietkabelis
Records
Average attendance2,478

The 2017–18 Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, also called Betsafe-LKL for sponsorship reasons, was the 25th season of the top-tier level professional basketball league of Lithuania, the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL). The season started in September 2017, and the last game of final series was played in 18 June 2018.

Žalgiris is the defending champion.

Competition format

During the regular season, all teams will play 36 games. The top eight teams in the regular season standings, after playing their entire 36 game schedule, will each qualify for the playoffs in the quarterfinals, that will be played in a best-of-five games format. The semifinals will also be played in that format.

The final round will be played between the two winners of the semifinals. The finals series, for first place, will be played in a best-of-seven format, while the series for third place will be played in a best-of-five format.[1]

Teams

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Location of teams in 2017–18 LKL
Team Location Arena Capacity
Dzūkija Alytus Alytus Arena 5,500
Juventus Utena Utena Arena 2,000
Lietkabelis Panevėžys Cido Arena 5,950
Lietuvos rytas Vilnius Lietuvos rytas Arena 2,500
Siemens Arena 10,000
Neptūnas Klaipėda Švyturys Arena 6,200
Nevėžis Kėdainiai Kėdainiai Arena 2,200
Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys Pieno žvaigždės Arena 1,500
Šiauliai Šiauliai Šiauliai Arena 5,700
Vytautas Prienai-Birštonas Prienai Arena 1,500
Žalgiris Kaunas Žalgiris Arena 15,708

Regular season

In the regular season, teams play against each other four times, home-and-away, in double a round-robin format. The eight first qualified teams advance to the play-offs. The regular season started on 19 September 2017.

Table

Pos Team
 Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification or relegation
1 Žalgiris 36 32 4 3014 2451 +563 Advance to play-offs
2 Lietuvos rytas 36 30 6 3162 2704 +458
3 Neptūnas 36 25 11 3011 2838 +173
4 Lietkabelis 36 20 16 3013 2978 +35
5 Šiauliai 36 16 20 2886 2941 −55
6 Pieno žvaigždės 36 14 22 2894 3140 −246
7 Juventus 36 13 23 2918 3029 −111
8 Nevėžis 36 12 24 2805 2993 −188
9 Dzūkija 36 10 26 2721 3030 −309
10 Vytautas[a] 36 8 28 2805 3125 −320 Relegation to NKL[Note 1]
Source: LKL
Notes:
  1. ^ If other 9 LKL teams and Vytis from National Basketball League (NKL) meet the licensing requirements, Vytautas would be relegated. However, Vytis did not meet licensing requirements, meaning Vytautas stayed onto the LKL for at least another season.

Play-offs

Main article: 2018 LKL Play-offs

The quarter-finals are played in a best-of-five format, with the higher seeded team playing the first, third and (if necessary) fifth game at home. The semi-finals are played in a best-of-five format and the finals in a best-of-seven format, with the higher seed team playing games 1, 3, 5 and 7 (if necessary) at home.

Bracket

 
QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals
 
          
 
 
 
 
1
Žalgiris		3
 
 
 
8
Nevėžis 		0
 
1
Žalgiris		3
 
 
 
4
Lietkabelis 		0
 
4
Lietkabelis		3
 
 
 
5
Šiauliai 		1
 
1
Žalgiris 		4
 
 
 
2
Lietuvos rytas 		1
 
2
Lietuvos rytas		3
 
 
 
7
Juventus 		0
 
2
Lietuvos rytas		3
 
 
 
3
Neptūnas 		2Third place series
 
3
Neptūnas		3
 
 
 
6
Pieno žvaigždės 		1
 
3
Neptūnas 		3
 
 
4
Lietkabelis 		1
 

Quarterfinals

Team 1 Series Team 2 Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5
Žalgiris 3–0 Nevėžis 95–70 96–75 84–69
Lietuvos rytas 3–0 Juventus 97–64 79–78 102–73
Neptūnas 3–1 Pieno žvaigždės 91–81 87–92 92–82 101–64
Lietkabelis 3–1 Šiauliai 103–86 84–94 92–68 85–84

Semifinals

Team 1 Series Team 2 Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5
Žalgiris 3–0 Lietkabelis 93–69 94–79 83–64
Lietuvos rytas 3–2 Neptūnas 79–84 67–49 74–67 70–74 88–82

Third place series

Team 1 Series Team 2 Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5
Neptūnas 3–1 Lietkabelis 69–83 71–69 79–71 89–78

Finals

Main article: 2018 LKL Finals
Team 1 Series Team 2 Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 Game 6 Game 7
Žalgiris 4–1 Lietuvos rytas 96–83 73–82 90–80 82–78 80–70

Attendance data

Attendance data included playoff games:

Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Žalgiris 105,384 11,293 1,374 4,215 +5.3%†
2 Lietuvos rytas 96,239 9,830 830 3,850 +60.2%†
3 Neptūnas 88,230 5,490 2,100 3,676 −15.3%†
4 Lietkabelis 79,784 6,419 2,488 3,469 −6.8%†
5 Šiauliai 48,300 5,200 1,000 2,415 +78.6%†
6 Dzūkija 32,512 3,764 415 1,806 +1.1%†
7 Juventus 28,388 3,128 864 1,494 +3.3%†
8 Nevėžis 18,111 1,800 550 953 +7.8%†
9 Vytautas 14,235 1,500 300 791 +10.6%†
10 Pieno žvaigždės 11,623 1,100 200 581 −3.8%†
League total 522,806 11,293 200 2,478 +8.4%†

Source: LKL

Clubs in European competitions

Team Competition Progress Ref
Žalgiris EuroLeague Third qualified
Lietuvos rytas EuroCup Top 16 [2]
Lietkabelis Regular season
Neptūnas Champions League Round of 16 [3]
Juventus Regular season
Vytautas First qualifying round
Nevėžis FIBA Europe Cup Second round [4]

Clubs in regional competitions

Team Competition Progress
Pieno žvaigždės Baltic Basketball League Champion
Vytautas Disqualified
Šiauliai 4th place

References

  1. ^ Čempionato sistema Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "7DAYS EuroCup Board meets ahead of 2017-18 season". EuroCup Basketball. 14 June 2017. Archived from the original on June 17, 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Champions line up in battle for European Glory". BasketballCL.com. 28 June 2017. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  4. ^ "FIBA Europe Cup Qualification Round 1 and 2 pairings confirmed". FIBA.com. 2017-08-03. Archived from the original on September 19, 2017.