AND ONE!

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

Week 6 - October 29th 2013

 

Bamberg answer Madrid embarrassment, Bayreuth slow start with whirlwind finish

Leave it to Brose Baskets Bamberg. They certainly gave their fans a rollercoaster ride this past week. First off, they put up an admittedly “embarrassing” performance in losing by 40 points at Real Madrid in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. And Brose were trailing by nine points against medi bayreuth at home in the Beko BBL with less than eight minutes to play. But Bamberg came up with an amazing final 31-4 run for a run-away victory.

Chris Fleming’s team will look to build on the fourth quarter as they start the up-coming week on Friday November 1 in the Euroleague at home against Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Brose then hit the road to take on promoted team Rasta Vechta on Sunday November 3.

Let’s start with the bad. And in the case of the game against Madrid, it was also ugly. Bamberg shot just 33 percent from the floor, were out-rebounded 44-30 and forced just nine turnovers in a 98-58 blowout loss at Real Madrid on October 24.

“Both teams got what they deserved,” said Coach Fleming, whose team dropped to 1-1 in Group B.

Captain Casey Jacobsen called the loss “embarrassing” and added: “When you play a team like real Madrid, who are one of the best, you have to come out with the attitude that you’re going to win. Tonight we were a little bit passive. Certainly I take responsibility as one of the leaders of the team. I wasn’t ready and I wasn’t a good leader tonight.”

Bamberg guard Karsten Tadda described the defeat as a “disgrace”, offering:  “This was not the Bamberg basketball that we know. Everybody who wears the Bamberg jersey should go on the court and play their ass off. That was not the case today.”

Brose scored just seven points in the first quarter, trailing 18-7 as they had no answer for the combo of Nikola Mirotic and Sergio Lllull, who scored all 18 of Madrid’s points.

In the second quarter, Madrid’s bench proved just as effective against the poor defensive effort by Bamberg, who trailed 42-21 at the break, having made just 8 of 34 shots.

Things didn’t improve much in the second half as Bamberg saw the deficit increase to 73-39 after three quarters. Madrid had a 12-0 run early in the fourth to extend the margin to 45 points. One of the few bright spots in the fourth quarter was Jamar Smith hitting three three-pointers.

Smith led Bamberg with 11 points while Jacobsen had 10 points and Damir Markota added nine points, five rebounds and two assists.

Brose bounced back in the Beko BBL on October 27 with a 99-81 win at home over their Franconia rivals from Bayreuth. Bamberg needed a huge comeback in the fourth quarter to finally win back-to-back games for the first time this season and improve to 4-2 in the Beko BBL.

Bamberg started the game strong defensively, forcing Bayreuth into a number of turnovers and taking a 22-13 lead after one quarter. Bayreuth used the long ball to get back into the game, nailing six three-pointers and trailing just 44-41 at halftime.

Bamberg continued to struggle to find their game and watched as Bayreuth found the open man on offense and led 67-62 after three quarters.

The guests’ new acquisition Sead Sehovic nailed two three-pointers early in the fourth quarter and Ronnie Burrell gave Bayreuth a 77-68 lead with 7:46 minutes remaining.

Bamberg finally woke up, especially defensively, coming up with a number of stops. Smith answered with a three-pointer to spark a 14-0 run. Burrell scored another basket but Brose continued their march with a 17-2 surge close to the game. All told, Bamberg finished the game with a 31-4 run, which included five triples.

“If you only take the last seven minutes into account, then it was very good. I think we ended the game the right way, with a lot of energy on the court and on the bench,” said Fleming.

“It was important for us after the game in Madrid to at least have an idea of what we can become. But we have a long road ahead of us.”

Karsten Tadda said the team’s emotions got them back into the game.

“I think we played the kind of basketball that we can play. It’s not enough for one quarter. We need to play consistently over 40 minutes because we have the quality in the team. When everybody plays their asses off, then we are a good team,” said Tadda.

Smith led the team in scoring with 17 points while Anton Gavel and Maik Zirbes both scored 16 points, Rakim Sanders added 14 points and Jacobsen chipped in 10 points. Zack Wright was unable to play and was replaced by John Goldsberry, who collected four points, six assists, three rebounds and three steals in just his second Beko BBL game of the season.

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