Telekom Baskets Bonn: Victory against Fraport Skyliners

Back at the top of the table: Telekom Baskets Bonn continue to present themselves as a real contender for the championship in the Basketball Bundesliga. FC Bayern Munich had given them a helping hand with a win at Alba Berlin on Saturday evening, so that the team of head coach Tuomas Iisalo was already the front runner at the Fraport Skyliners and there a never threatened 88:61 (18:18, 26:14, 18:17, 26:12) brought victory.

“Fortunately we improved our defense, that was crucial,” explained top scorer Collin Malcolm (16 points). “We’re confident, we have a chance against everyone, but we have to keep thinking game by game.”

Javontae Hawkins was also in the Bonn team for the first time. It was a nice coincidence that the hall DJ played the Eurodance classic “The Spirit of the Hawk” to welcome him. “I wanted to have fun with basketball again,” explained the returnee before the game. “In a family environment where my family and I feel comfortable. It was just perfect timing and now I’m glad to be back.”

First, the old and new number 13 took a seat on the bench, Iisalo started as usual with TJ Shorts, Karsten Tadda, Tyson Ward, Finn Delany and Leon Kratzer. 300 Bonn fans who had traveled with them followed the request “all in white” and presented themselves impressively in picture and sound. But things were initially rather tough on the field. Frankfurt took advantage of Bonn’s unusual weakness in the final and quickly led 7-0 before Delany was responsible for Bonn’s first points.

The Baskets slowly came closer, at 12:15 from Bonn’s point of view, Iisalo then brought Hawkins for the first time, accompanied by thunderous applause from the white enclave in the colorful stands. A 7-0 run by the guests prompted Skyliners coach Geert Hammink to take his first time out, indicating that the Baskets would find their way into the game and take control.

Joshua Obiesie also helped them with a lousy throw-in, which Delany processed with the final siren of the first quarter to equalize 18:18. Tadda gave the starting shot in section two from a distance, Bonn was now in control, their defense was better than the Frankfurt ideas and their execution.

Nevertheless, the baskets kept throwing in actions that made Iisalo despair on the touchline. An inaccurate pass across the zone from Ward, an attack from Ward that was not brought across the center line in time – annoying, but not as bad as an action shortly before the break, in which the number 3 from Bonn twisted, had to hobble off the field and didn’t come back either. With an assist brought to Collin Malcolm by the heavy traffic under the basket, Shorts initiated Bonn’s 44:32 lead at halftime. What the baskets played was enough for the penultimate table, but not for their own coach. That was solid – one of Iisalo’s favorite words – and no longer gave the impression that Frankfurt would somehow be able to hold a candle to the Baskets. On the field and in the stands, the people from Bonn took control of all the controls.

In the final quarter, the Skyliners then had little to oppose. The success was duly celebrated. The team jumped on the field, Hawkins had lured the fans into the stands, the returnee surrounded by his family. “Leaders, leaders – hey, hey!” they yelled for quite a while after the game was over. Then Ward ran reasonably smoothly again.

The Baskets continue on Wednesday (8 p.m.) with the Champions League home game against Lietuvos Rytas from Lithuania.