Long faces in the Telekom Dome in Bonn. The German runner-up in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) also lost the second game of the new season – again against a promoted team. The false start is perfect and the trainer’s statements make you sit up and take notice – the alarm bells are ringing.
It wasn’t the spectators’ fault. Despite the sometimes shockingly weak performance on the floor against newly promoted Tigers Tübingen, the 5,500 spectators in Bonn continually cheered on the team in magenta. “We want to see you fight,” was heard from the stands from time to time. Alone: It wasn’t about the fighting, but about the skill – at least on this evening. After the third quarter the game was basically over (49:67), but in the end it was a 76:88 defeat. The Bonn team had already lost the start at Rasta Vechta with 79:84.
“I don’t like to look for excuses. We were at an unacceptable level. It’s difficult to find an explanation,” said Bonn’s new coach Roel Moors on “Dyn”. It’s probably “a mental thing that has nothing to do with basketball.”
After the first two games, it becomes more and more apparent, which was of course already clear beforehand and is somehow a common comparison: Structure Harald Frey is not TJ Shorts, giant Ike Udanoh is not Leon scratch, Brian Fobbs is not Sebastian Herrera. The celebration and party hours in Bonn are probably over for now.
Baskets Bonn: Hangover mood after the basketball fairy tale
Last season, the Baskets Bonn wrote a true basketball fairytale, stormed through the main round, sensationally won the Champions League trophy and only narrowly lost out in the playoffs in the final against Ulm, another underdog. In short: Bonn was the story of last year, the team of the season.
The team worked as a collective and through peak performance, for example from the brilliant builder TJ Shorts, who either assisted or finished himself. Another Bonn professional shone again and again. Somehow the thing almost always went in and Bonn won. That’s how most of the preseason could be summed up.
The team also unintentionally made headlines in the summer because the team brutally fell apart. Six players and head coach Tuomas Iisalo were poached by Paris Basketball and moved to the French capital. Including leader Shorts. The remaining players also joined other teams. Sports director Savo Milovic was faced with the difficult task of putting together a new team from nothing. Together with the new coach Roel Moers, he signed a completely new squad that still has to be found.
Baskets President Wolfgang Wiedlich said in an interview at the time sport.de and ntv.de, it is definitely a new dimension that one European competitor is “sucking the other dry”. “Four people from the coaching staff, six from the player squad. Legally, it’s all legal,” said the Baskets boss, explaining the Paris activities in the summer. “But on this scale it is certainly a first in European basketball.” The credo in the summer was: wipe your mouth, carry on.
Baskets Bonn’s declared goal for the season is the playoffs. After the two opening defeats, this currently seems like a Herculean task, but there are still 32 games left. But the tasks don’t get any easier. One thing is clear: the team still has to find itself. At times she caused slapstick interludes and even desperate laughter in the audience with strange ball losses. As it is when twelve new players have to find their way: mistakes are inevitable.
Silence instead of “Sweet Caroline”
But the facts speak for themselves: after just two games, the Bonn team have as many main round defeats as they did in the entire previous season. It should have been clear to everyone that the season wasn’t going to be so incredibly fairytale-like, but there still seemed to be something like disappointment or at least severe disillusionment in the hall at Hardtberg.
The many own mistakes and the strong performance of the Tigers Tübingen ultimately sucked a lot of energy out of the otherwise frenetic hall in Bonn. Silence instead of “Sweet Caroline”.
The Baskets will continue on Monday. Then they welcome the Syntainics MBC from Weißfenfels. The team is also winless so far. A real crisis summit. And at the Champions League home game against Hapoel Holon in two weeks there will at least be another spark of euphoria. Before the game, the “Champions League Winners” banner will be pulled up to the ceiling of the hall. The triumph was only five months ago – it already feels like half an eternity.
Emmanuel Schneider
2023-10-05 12:25:00
#Bundesliga #BBL #Alarm #Bonn #runnerup #falling
