Mi, 3. Jan 2024
After twelve successful games in a row, Saxony’s best basket hunters suffered another defeat on New Year’s Eve. In front of almost 10,000 spectators, including a good 1,000 Chemnitz fans who had traveled with them, the NINERS lost 90:101 (45:60) to eleven-time German champions and repeat title contenders ALBA Berlin in the Mercedes-Benz Arena. From the start, the “Orange Army” was unable to keep the BBL’s best offense in check, meaning Chemnitz fell behind 19:34 in the opening quarter. In addition, head coach Rodrigo Pastore’s team had a hard time with the referees’ very narrow interpretation of the rules, which is why in the end there were 37 team fouls, almost twice as many as the previous season average, with Kevin Yebo, Jonas Richter and Ousman Krubally having all three Chemnitzer Center did not see the end of the game. Nevertheless, the NINERS showed their hearts, never gave up despite being 19 points behind, and later even fought their way back up to six points, but the burden of previously conceded hits and numerous fouls was too great to keep up with the guest appearance of the best teams in Germany again. Nevertheless, the NINERS were allowed to leave the field with their heads held high, as they really demanded everything from the Berliners and, despite the narrow defeat, went into the new year as league leaders, where they will now face the next top team on Saturday with the MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg – but this time in their own name Hall!
The Chemnitz team had big plans for the match in Berlin and wanted to prove that after Ulm they can seriously stand up to the next title candidate. But Berlin also came out of the dressing room with the knife between its teeth and showed two days earlier in the Euroleague game against Piraeus where ALBA’s focus was at the turn of the year. When defeat gradually became apparent in that game, the capital city rested their stars in order to be able to go into the duel with Chemnitz as fresh as possible and, at best, to be able to give their own fans a home win on New Year’s Eve in front of a full house. This focus, coupled with the undoubtedly existing playing quality of the Berlin squad and obviously some nervousness on the part of the NINERS in front of their personal season record crowd, led to a tailor-made ALBA start, with ex-NBA star Sterling Brown making it 13:6 early on. Kevin Yebo, Jonas Richter and Jeff Garrett then briefly reduced the score to 11:13, but led by captain and world champion Johannes Thiemann, Berlin took the next blow. In that phase, ALBA’s 2.21 meter giant Khalifa Koumadje also proved to be almost “unstoppable”, repeatedly asserting himself successfully near the basket and thus making a significant contribution to Berlin’s lead to 34:19 by the first half break.
The short break was a perfect opportunity for the NINERS to regroup and, above all, come up with a plan to counteract the already considerable number of fouls. At the beginning of the second section this worked quite well, so that Chemnitz got within 24:34. As a result, the NINERS found it difficult to adjust to the referee’s line, so Berlin was awarded a total of 16 free throws within five and a half minutes, which at least favored the home team’s highest lead of the entire game (56:37). Ultimately, it wasn’t just the points conceded that weighed heavily, but above all the number of fouls. Because of this, NINERS coach Pastore was forced to change at an early stage solely with a view to the distribution of fouls, instead of being able to increasingly choose lineups that made sense from a tactical point of view. “We will learn a lot from this game and come back stronger,” said the Chemnitz head coach, but he also saw that the challenges that one encounters in duels with the absolute top teams in the league can be helpful for one’s own development. Chemnitz showed a clear learning curve as the game progressed. They did a good job of limiting the damage until the half-time break (45:60) and after the break Chemnitz fought back with a lot of courage and effort. When Jonas Richter finally scored from the free throw line to make it 63:69, the NINERS had gone on a 26:13 run across the break within eight minutes of play – away, at the eleven-time champions, in front of 10,000 spectators. ALBA coach Israel Gonzalez had to call for a time-out, but apparently found the right words there, because the Berliners then went ahead again to 77:66 and were able to rely on that little bit more “luck in the battle” with the half-time whistle, that she has been with them throughout the entire game and should continue to remain loyal to them.
Because Sterling’s Brown’s spectacular buzzer three from the halfway line was not the only game scene in which Fortuna was well-disposed towards the capital city team. Apart from some 50-50 decisions by the refs, ALBA’s Yanni Wetzell, for example, scored with the shot clock buzzer shortly before half-time after an actually strong defensive sequence by the NINERS. Matteo Spagnolo apparently lost the ball to Dominic Lockhart in the final quarter, but he tapped it so badly onto the floor that it fell in a high arc over the backboard into the basket. Likewise, in several extremely thin rebound situations, the orange leather decided to jump towards the yellow ALBA jersey instead of the black NINERS jersey, or were strong defensive actions by the Chemnitz team, such as the blocks by Aher Uguak and Wes Van Beck, ultimately not rewarded with decisive “stops”, because Berlin was still scoring “in follow-up”. In exactly such situations, however, the whole class of the Berlin team showed itself, playing hard and smart at the same time and always being able to set decisive pinpricks. In addition, ALBA was able to showcase its greatest strength, namely the offense, much better than Chemnitz was able to showcase its own defense, which was most clearly reflected in the final score of 101:90. Berlin had left its mark on this game – but the NINERS undoubtedly succeeded in the first third of the BBL season, who completely surprisingly and deservedly slipped into the new year as league leaders and tackled the next tasks in the easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga as well as in the FIBA Europe Cup with great confidence can.
STATISTICS
ALBA BERLIN vs. NINERS Chemnitz 101:90 (34:19, 26:26, 20:25, 21:20), 9,887 spectators
Yebo (21 points), Van Beck (18), Lansdowne (12), Garrett (9), Uguak (9), Kajami-Keane (8), Richter (8), Krubally (3) Lockhart (2), Gregori ( not used), Koppke (not used)
TERM
NINERS Chemnitz vs. MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg (easyCredit BBL)Saturday, January 6th, 2024, 8:00 p.m., Chemnitz Trade Fair
ZZ Leiden vs. NINERS Chemnitz (FIBA Europe Cup)Wednesday, January 10, 2023, 8:00 p.m., Vijf Meihal Arena Leiden
Telekom Baskets Bonn vs. NINERS Chemnitz (easyCredit BBL)Friday, January 12, 2024, 8:00 p.m., Telekom Dome Bonn
NINERS Chemnitz vs. CSM CSU Oradea (FIBA Europe Cup)Wednesday, January 17th, 2024, 7:00 p.m., Chemnitz Trade Fair
Photo: Tilo WiedenSoler/camera4
2024-01-04 08:14:12
#Winning #streak #breaks #Berlin
