Not a trace of tiredness: The newly crowned Champions League winner Baskets Bonn started the BBL playoffs with a clear win against the Niners Chemnitz.
Three days after the CL final in Malaga, the winner of the preliminary round (32 wins from 34 games) prevailed in the first quarter-final duel on Wednesday evening with 94:63 (38:33). The second game in the “Best of five” series is scheduled for Bonn on Friday (8:30 p.m.). The Baskets have home rights again.
The best pitcher in the baskets was Sebastian Herrera with his personal season best of 24 points. Playmaker TJ Shorts II had 17 points. Jonas Richter scored 14 points for Chemnitz.
“One can be very proud. It was not an easy situation and the most difficult preparation of my coaching career – it was also difficult to find the right approach,” said Baskets coach Tuomas Iisalo on “MagentaSport” given the short preparation time.
Quick double-digit leadership for Bonn
Before the game, Iisalo was named BBL Coach of the Year for the second year in a row, and Shorts was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the first time. Arnas Velicka then scored the first points of the game for Chemnitz, but after a steal, Tyson Ward dunked Bonn into the lead (3:2) – and the Baskets didn’t give it up until the end of the game.
Chemnitz took a lot of throws from outside at the beginning, but there was a lack of accuracy. As usual, Bonn played at high speed, quickly got going and after just under seven minutes they were in the double digits (16:5). With a score of 22:7, the guests came into play a little better after three successful free throws by Wes Clark. But Bonn was also the better team among the baskets (14:9 rebounds in the first quarter) and led 22:11 after the first period.
Chemnitz increases in the second quarter
Chemnitz did not play a bad game, but for a long time almost never hit a shot: towards the middle of the second quarter, the hit rate was only 14 percent (7 percent for three-point shots). In the meantime, Bonn pulled away to 16 points.
But in the final minutes before the half-time break, the guests, in their best phase up to that point and a 10:2 run, came back up to five points (30:25). Bonn had lost its rhythm a bit, but still took a 38:33 lead into the break – a buzzer beater from Bonn’s Finn Delaney ended up in the basket, but was given a moment too late.
Bonn with a lot of momentum from the break
Led by Shorts, the Baskets came out of the dressing room with a lot of steam, Leon scratches started the second half with a dunk. A 7-0 run gave Bonn a double-digit lead again (45:33), after a successful three by strong Herrera, the home side led for the first time by 17 points (57:40).
Chemnitz had hardly anything to counter the fireworks that Bonn was now burning down. At the end of the third quarter, the game was almost decided given a 29-point lead (77:48) – with 39 points, Bonn scored more points in the third quarter than in the entire first half.
Chemnitz didn’t give up, but fell even further behind in the last section. Zach Ensminger increased the lead to 33 points (94:61) half a minute before the end of the game.
Only won the Champions League on Sunday
Only last weekend had the Bonners secured the first title in the club’s history. At the Final Four of the FIBA Champions League in Malaga, Spain, the Baskets beat Hapoel Jerusalem 77-70 in the final. The Rhinelanders were only the fifth German team to win an international cup.
