AND ONE!

Weekly roundup for our English-speaking fans by David Hein.

Week 16 - April 15th 2014

Bamberg fall to Bayern, lose first game at home this season
Brose Baskets Bamberg missed a chance to take the driver’s seat in the race for home court advantage throughout the Beko BBL playoffs by losing 76-75 at home against league leaders Bayern Munich in a top-level showdown on Sunday April 13. 

Bamberg dropped to 24-5 in the league for second place, just one game behind 25-4 Bayern Munich, who hold the tiebreaker as they beat Brose in both games this season. After suffering their first loss at home this season, Bamberg will look to rebound on Thursday April 17 as they head back on the road to play TBB Trier before returning home on Monday April 21 to host RASTA Vechta.

Nine missed free throws, two possible game winners off target
Freak City lived up to its name as the fans at brose ARENA put on a great show - just like both teams on the court as the game went back and forth throughout and was a thriller until the final buzzer.

In the end, Brose missed nine free throws before eventually failing to convert to possible two game winners in the final 10 seconds. D’Or Fischer paced Bamberg with 13 points, five rebounds and two assists while Elias Harris scored 12 points and Jamar Smith and Rakim Sanders both added 11 points. Brose shot 50 percent from the field and came up with 20 assists but made just 14 of 23 free throws (61 percent) “Of course it’s a shame that we lost. We had the last chance to win but we couldn’t get it done. Bayern have to lose two games and we don’t control our own destiny. We have to watch and see what they do and do our work as well,” said Anton Gavel, who collected eight points, four rebounds and four assists.

“We had a pretty good chance to win today. Unfortunately Jamar didn’t take the open shot. Still I think we are moving in the right direction. The team is playing more compact and we are look forward to maybe playing Bayern again in a couple of months,” said head coach Chris Fleming.

“It was really breathtaking. It was really a good basketball game by both teams. It’s aggravating from our point of view that we missed nine free throws,” said general manager Wolfgang Heyder. “If you lose a game by one point and you miss nine free throws that explains quite a bit. For me, it’s clear that Bayern will finish in first place. They would have to lost twice, and they will not do that. Now I hope that we can stay in second place.”

Gavel, Jordan start game
Bamberg started with Gavel and Jared Jordan in the starting line-up, both having recovered from their recent injuries. There were four lead changes and two ties in the early going until Bayern pulled ahead 13-9. The Munich lead increased to 18-11 before a John Goldsberry three-ball and it was down to 19-16 after two Maik Zirbes free throws. After 10 minutes, Bamberg trailed 21-16.

Munich led 23-16 before Brose finally started to find a rhythm offensively. Smith and Chevon Troutman swapped three-balls before Gavel trimmed the margin to 26-25. Two Fischer free throws knotted it at 30-30 and then Sanders finally scored his first points at the 2:43 mark of the second quarter with a three-ball to make it 33-30. Harris added a trey of his own and Jordan’s basket pushed the Bamberg lead to 40-32 to complete a 13-2 run. Bamberg went into the break up 40-34.

Sanders made just one of four free throws early in the second half and then picked up his third foul with 8:12 minutes left. Smith nailed his third three-pointer to increase the margin to 49-40 and the lead was 51-42 and 53-44. But Brose never were able to get the double digit lead. Munich’s Malcolm Delaney would score his first points with two minutes left with a three-point play to cut Bamberg’s lead to 55-54 and Bayern would take the lead with the next basket. Bamberg trailed 58-57 after three quarters.

Sanders picked up his fourth foul with eight minutes left and watched as Bayern increased the lead to 64-59. Gavel nailed a three-pointer and Harris completed a three-point play to pull within 67-65. Smith missed two free throws that could have tied the game at 69-69. Bamberg allowed two offensive rebounds to Bayern before Deon Thompson converted a three-point play and the lead grew to 76-68 with just more than two minutes to play. Sanders came back and took over with a basket, a three-pointer and a layup to get Bamberg to within 76-75 with 1:11 minutes left. Bamberg had a chance to win the game on the final possession but Sanders’ shot with eight seconds was short and then after Fischer grabbed an offensive rebound, Smith passed up on a three before missing a floater off the glass at the buzzer.

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