Bonn’s TJ Shorts (from left) is the smallest basketball player in the BBL, while Berlin’s Christ Koumadje is the biggest. On Sunday the little one scored 29 more points.
Photo: imago/Tilo Wiedensoler
There are two prejudices that have persisted in basketball for decades, although they have been disproved again and again: It is a disembodied sport and only those who are tall have a chance. The disembodied thing was done 50 years ago, and anyone who visits a game can get an idea of how 100-kilo mountains collide. But the size thing has to be right somehow, why else do most professionals measure just below or sometimes well above the two-meter mark. The cup round of 16 on Monday evening between the baskets from Bonn and host Alba Berlin overturned this prejudice. The two most successful throwers were TJ Shorts (36 points) and Tamir Blatt (23). At 1.75 meters, one is the smallest basketball player in the entire Bundesliga (BBL), the other is only three centimeters taller. It was a breathtaking duel in the midst of giants – with the better end for Blatt’s Berliner. Alba won 98:95 and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Bonn and Berlin have been focusing on speed for years. Whoever has the ball runs immediately. Practiced moves are secondary, it’s all about quick movements, quick passes, quick throws. Alba has been successful with this for years, which is why players like Blatt keep getting their chance in the defending champion’s system. Bonn’s Finnish coach Tuomas Iisalo is also a fan of this style of play. While the 1.80 meter “tall” Parker Jackson-Cartwright whirled through the opponents’ defenses for the baskets last season, he was replaced for the new season by shorts that are five centimeters smaller. And yes, that’s really the man’s name.
Stopping such small, explosive playmakers is extremely difficult for the other giants on the field: “TJ is so fast. If defended by a small player, he can jump up and throw over them. And if he has a big man in front of him, he dribbles very low past his knees. Also, he’s stronger than he looks. If he moves to the basket, he can also assert himself », Berlin’s national player Louis Olinde, who is 30 centimeters taller, described his thankless task when he was supposed to stop shorts that evening.
Even if that often didn’t work out, luckily Alba had a counterpart in her own ranks. “Yes, TJ and Tamir are small. But the two show again and again: It’s not always just the body size that counts. TJ makes up for that with his athleticism, Tamir, on the other hand, with an incredibly high basketball IQ », Olinde now also praised his own teammate: “He has a very good throw and a great overview.” Berlin captain Luke Sikma added: “The boys throw you off balance and at the same time see the best-placed team-mates. This was a great duel between TJ and Tamir, in which neither wanted to give up. The fans certainly enjoyed that.”
In fact, Shorts had always played a lead for Bonn. He played the Berliners dizzily and even made the longest player in the BBL, Christ Koumadje, at 2.21m, look like an – admittedly huge – schoolboy as he ran around him and seemed to score from every position. On the other hand, Blatt brought Alba back up with five successful three-point shots and seven assists. “We both play with a lot of heart,” said the Israeli, who assumes that this is exactly what shorts have to do with their short body length. “I’ve had to prove every day of my career that I can keep up with the big guys. people doubt you But I believe in myself and my teammates too. That’s the most important.”
Alba Berlin also has little choice but to play on sheet because the injury list is long. There are many players in the squad who were still active with their national teams at the European Championships until shortly before the start of the season. “Unfortunately, after the stress of the European Championship, many of them are now injured. That makes it very difficult,” complained Alba’s coach Israel González after the cup game. “So I’m incredibly happy about this win. We were better at all the little things where the will decides. That was the only way success was possible.”
His biggest fear is that Tamir Blatt will soon be hit too, because he also played in the European Championship. In the Euroleague game against Milan last Friday, Blatt had cramps during extra time. As a result, González did not set up Blatt in defense directly against TJ Shorts. “We have to at least hide Tamir on the defensive. He’s the last playmaker we have left.” So he couldn’t let him run after the nimble Shorts all evening.
Nevertheless, the 25-year-old newspaper admitted after the win against Bonn that he felt “very tired”. “It’s very difficult right now. We’re missing five key players, including my two colleagues in playmaking, Jayleen Smith and Maodo Lô. So I have a lot going on right now and I hope they come back soon. But until then I will continue to give everything for this team.”
To make matters worse, the Berliners are also stuck in what is probably the toughest part of the season with five games in just ten days. Already this Wednesday the team from Panathinaikos Athens comes to the next duel, two days later Alba has to compete at Anadolu in Istanbul. “Fortunately, these are two games in the Euroleague in which we are not under pressure to win,” coach González concluded the cup evening. “I’m sure I’ll think of something how I can go easy on Tamir.”
