UImmediately after the half-time break, Klaus Perwas was angry and threw the tactics board on the floor in the ball sports hall. The speech by the Frankfurt basketball coach in the dressing room had obviously not worked. Because his players were not attentive and obedient enough in the duel with Alba Berlin, which is why Perwas quickly took a break and addressed critical words to his team.
As expected, the Skyliners did not act at eye level with the German champions and lost their Bundesliga home game in front of 5000 spectators 61:79. “We would have liked to make it a little more difficult for Berlin,” said Perwas. The Hessians only hit four of 21 three-pointers. The rebound balance (36:29) also went to the favorite, who could afford to rest parts of his staff.
“We didn’t defend hard enough for more than 40 minutes,” said Quantez Robertson. After all, the Skyliners were allowed to play a little bit at times because the Berliners didn’t have to call up their highest level and didn’t get too hands-on in defense. Best Skyliners pitchers were Isaiah Washington and Derek Cooke jr. with 13 points each.
No gaming license yet
The player who is supposed to strengthen the table penultimate from Frankfurt in the league struggle for survival was not there. Managing director Yannick Binas absolutely did not want to mention his name on Sunday. According to information from the FAZ, it is playmaker Jordan Theodore. Binas only said that “a player” had “signed” with the Frankfurters before the change deadline on March 31st. “We registered this player with the Basketball Bundesliga,” said Binas. So far, however, there is no gaming license for the potential newcomer.
A possibly due transfer fee – Theodore is still under contract with the Russian club BC Samara – should not be the main reason for this. The Frankfurters do not provide any information on the apparently difficult situation. In the background, however, they are probably also working flat out on a solution with the involvement of the responsible professional associations. Theodore has been in Frankfurt for a few days. At the Alba game he was not a spectator in the ball sports hall. The 33-year-old American played for the Skyliners in the 2015/2016 season. At that time, the experienced point guard, who would significantly raise the level of Frankfurt, won the FIBA Europe Cup with the Hessians.
Jordan Theodore is set to join the Skyliners.
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Photo: Jan Huebner
The Skyliners have not taken part in international competitions for a long time. Today in the Bundesliga, the relegation battle is everyday life for the club, which has fallen deep in the table. And accordingly, the Euro League participant Berlin is one size too big for the Hessians. Robertson only got the first points to make it 2:7 after more than three minutes. Well into the first quarter, the Frankfurters were extremely weak in throwing in front of 5000 spectators.
Only Joshua Obiesie managed a successful three-point shot to 9:17 in the first ten minutes – there were nine missed throws in the statistics. Things got better early in the second quarter, with Washington and Einaras Tubutis scoring from long-range. After 13 minutes, the Skyliners shortened to 20:23. At half-time the score was 33:42. Hits from the three-point area only formed an intermediate high. The Berliners went into the final quarter with a 65:45 lead and never had to fear for their 23rd win of the season. This game also showed that the Skyliners could really use a player like Theodore. Especially since bottom of the table Bayreuth is back in the race to stay in the class.
