AND ONE!

Weekly round-up for our English-speaking fans by David Hein.

Week 8 - February 20th 2014

Bamberg bow out of Eurocup, struggle to beat Tübingen, say farewell Wright, Velickovic 

Brose Baskets Bamberg suffered their second major disappointment this season, bowing out of the Eurocup with their loss at Dinamo Banco Di Sardegna Sassari after having beaten BCM Gravelines Dunkerque at home. In the Beko BBL, Bamberg struggled but knocked off Walter Tigers Tübingen to remain on Bayern Munich’s heels. But the exit from the Eurocup led to the releases of point guard Zack Wright and power forward Novica Velickovic. 

The week ahead sees Bamberg take on New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig on Wednesday February 26 in the Beko BBL with a seven-game winning streak at stake.

Second international exit

Brose’s big goal for the 2013-14 season was to reach the Euroleague Top 16 and at the very least pick up their first victory at that stage. After that didn’t happen, Bamberg dropped down to the Last 32 of the Eurocup. And now the team’s international season is over.

Bamberg played tough for three quarters in southern Italy before watching Sassari knock down five three pointers in a 15-1 run in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter to blow the game open - with Brose losing 102-84 and dropping to 3-3 in Group J of the Eurocup. They finished in third place in the group. 

“It’s the second disappointment this year. I don’t know how we can play the fourth quarter like that and give them the game. We just collapsed in the fourth quarter,” said guard Anton Gavel.

 “This has happened so often. We cannot play on like this. Now were out of the second competition. We had entirely different plans this season right from the beginning. Something has to happen that this team plays differently.

“We need to play like a team and give everything in every situation, especially in the pressure situations which we have overcome in the past but not this season. That costs us games.” 

 D’Or Fischer led Bamberg with 20 points and six rebounds while Gavel had 18 points, Rakim Sanders 17 and Elias Harris 10. 

 “That wasn’t our game. Our game has to start with defense. That wasn’t the case at all tonight. Sassari of course shot very well (18-of-32 threes - 56%). But it’s our own fault that we didn’t pay attention to the details in a number of situations,” said Bamberg head coach Chris Fleming. 

“It’s so disappointing to lose that game because we had the means as a team to stop Sassari. In the home game we played our tempo. We couldn’t do that tonight. We are all disappointed.”

After Bamberg went ahead 5-0, Sassari scored six straight points. The game went back and forth until Brose nosed ahead 23-19. But back-to-back three-pointers gave Sassari a 25-23 lead after one quarter.

Sassari used a 6-0 run to pull ahead 38-33 but Bamberg stayed focused and reclaimed the lead at 43-42. At half-time, Sassari were leading 53-51. The biggest lead in the third quarter for either team was two points before Sassari went up 73-69. It was 73-71 after 30 minutes. 

Then came the start of the fourth quarter. Drake Diener, Manuel Vanuzzo and Travis Diener combined for five three-pointers in a 15-1 spurt to open an 88-72 Sassari lead. Gavel stopped the bleeding with two straight baskets to trim the gap to 12 points. But Caleb Green scored six straight points to push the margin to 18 points - 94-76. And Brose were never able to cut into the lead.

Win over Dunkerque

Bamberg came into the Sassari game with their destiny in their own hands after knocking off BCM Gravelines Dunkerque 70-59 at home a week earlier. Sanders paced the team with 14 points while Harris scored 13 and Fischer collected 10 points.

Brose struggled early to stop Dunkerque’s Yakhouba Diawara, who had nine points as the French team jumped ahead 15-8. Casey Jacobsen, Gavel and John Goldsberry all drained three-balls to even the game at 17-17 and Bamberg were up 21-18 after 10 minutes.

Brose led by five points when Dunkerque went on a 7-0 run to grab the lead. But Sanders sparked a 10-0 answer for a 33-25 lead. The cushion grew to 36-27 after a Jacobsen trey. At half-time the lead was 39-34. 

Bamberg scored the first six points of the second half and the advantage grew to 47-37. Fischer spearheaded an 8-0 close to the quarter and a 58-42 lead. 

 Dunkerque had one more charge in them, using a 10-2 run to pull within 66-55. But there were less than three minutes to play and Bamberg held on for the win.

 “I think that we decided the game in the third quarter with a really high defensive intensity and a lot of energy. Offensively we looked good when we were moving the ball,” said Fleming, whose team had 25 assists. 

 “But we need to concentrate on making things easier offensively. We had 20 turnovers and that will hurt down the road.”

Sanders said the key to the win was energy.

 “We had good energy and were getting stops and making plays. We struggled a little bit on the glass but i think we picked it up defensively. It’s always about us. It’s not about any other team,” said Sanders.

Seventh straight win in Beko BBL

In between the Eurocup games, Brose notched their seventh straight win in the Beko BBL to improve to 17-3 - 2.5 games behind leaders Bayern Munich. Bamberg struggled but won at Tübingen 86-84. 

Fischer led the way with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Gavel had 18 points and five assists, Harris chipped in 15 points and five rebounds and Jacobsen added 12 points.

 “That was the kind of game where you could really only lose. You’re playing at the 17th-placed team and they really put up a good fight,” said Gavel.

 “We deserved the win. We made the big plays when we needed them. We missed a chance to put the game away. We were leading in double digits and we didn’t show the killer instinct. We need to develop that as a team. In the end, we won because we’re disciplined offensively,” said Fleming.

 Gavel and Jacobsen knocked down early triples for a 12-4 lead in Tübingen. Another Jacobsen trey made it 17-7. The hosts fought back and got it to within 20-18 after one quarter. In the second quarter, Bamberg used a 6-0 run to open a 33-29 lead, which was later up to 37-31. At half-time, Brose led 37-34. 

 Early in the third quarter, Gavel had a three-pointer and Sanders a three-point play in an 8-0 surge for a 47-39 advantage. A Harris trey increased the cushion to 57-45. After three quarters the margin was down to 61-55.

The Bamberg lead was still 72-64 with less than seven minutes to play. Tübingen went on a 10-2 run to even the game at 74-74 with four minutes left. With the game knotted at 78-78, Gavel and Jacobsen scored back-to-back baskets and Bamberg got a couple of big stops defensively and the game was iced with Jacobsen’s late free throws.

Release of Wright and Velickovic

A day after Bamberg were bounced from the Eurocup, the team announced the release of point guard Zack Wright and power forward Novica Velickovic. Wright signed right away with Panathinaikos while Velickovic enters the free agent market. 

“We had signed Zack Wright to be our starting point guard. It became more and more clear that he could not live up to those expectations. Once Panathinaikos asked a second time, both sides were convinced that a move was the best solution,” said Fleming.

Regarding the decision to let Velickovic go, Fleming said: “We were and are convinced of Novica’s quality. But we had to recognise that his physical condition was not good enough for the rest of the season. We regret this development but we needed to make the move with the return of Sharrod Ford and the signing of Elias Harris.”

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