The 2nd Basketball Bundesliga ProA: Gießen 46ers Prepare for Rivalry Match against Frankfurt Skyliners

As of: February 16, 2024, 10:26 a.m

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Simon Krajcovic (in red) holds the game against three Jena players. Ball security will also be required tomorrow. Photo: Schepp © Schepp

Gießen/Frankfurt (sks), It is the top game of the 23rd matchday in the 2nd Basketball Bundesliga ProA. The Gießen 46ers travel to the Skyliners Frankfurt in Höchst on Sunday (3 p.m.) with five wins in a row. In the table, coach Denis Wucherer’s team is two points ahead of Central Hesse, who clearly lost out in the first leg.

Frankfurt Skyliners – Gießen 46ers (Sunday, 3 p.m.)

While Frankfurt has signed up again since then, Giessen will go into the hot phase of the season without reinforcements. Hundreds of fans will take the train to Frankfurt from 11:54 a.m. For the 46ers, there is also the question of whether the team feels any particular pressure. So there’s a lot to look at before the first derby at the Frankfurt Ballsporthalle in two years.

Derby pressure? Most recently, the Giessen 46ers confidently defeated Jena. After the game, coach “Frenki” Ignjatovic’s team sat contentedly on the floor, ready to humba, and were once again treated to chants against their favorite opponent, Frankfurt. The fans seem to be looking forward to the derby for weeks. Does this create a certain pressure after the first leg clearly went to the Skyliners 69:92?

No, says Robin Benzing: “It’s the game of the year for both of them and there’s a lot of explosiveness behind it. But ultimately it’s just a basketball game. At the end of the year, nobody asks how these two games ended, only about the overall performance.” The captain also has a clear opinion about the first leg: “We were on a different level at that time and weren’t ready. They were ahead of us there. Now we have developed a certain identity: we are full of self-confidence, we click better, the defense is getting stronger. It’s a different level.’

Derby joy! It’s getting crowded in the ball sports hall. Already on Wednesday, the Skyliners activated another block (D) for the visiting fans, but it is far away from the actual away block and is expensive. The demand was so great that Giessen fans were already vying for the last tickets at the beginning of the week. For the Central Hessians, the very one-sided love-hate relationship with Frankfurt and therefore the derby is far more important than for the people of Mainstadt themselves.

The table situation adds additional explosiveness. In the duel between third and fourth, Giessen has to ensure that he doesn’t lose his recently gained connection to the top. Despite new commitments to the already large squad, Frankfurt recently stumbled in Karlsruhe. “Like every team, with the possible exception of Trier, they have their ups and downs,” says Benzing.

Traditionally, many people from Giessen travel by train via Frankfurt main station and Höchst to the ball sports hall. The fans are calling on everyone to take the train together from Giessen at 11:54 a.m. Perhaps the Central Hessians will then scratch the mark of 1000 away fans for the first time in many, many years.

Derby? Fever! There is a question mark behind Luca Kahl’s commitment. The guard has been ill since Tuesday and also had a fever in the middle of the week. This makes the different squad depth even clearer.

Derby opponents with a lot of manpower: Denis Wucherer, who once coached Giessen to promotion from the ProA, has already used 15 players over the course of the season. Frankfurt scores absolutely across the board: Kevin McClain, who has been signed up since the last derby, is currently the Skyliners’ fifth best scorer with 9.4 ppg, with the other four (Lorenz Brenneke, Aiden Warnholtz, David Muenkat and top scorer Booker Coplin) in similar spheres Mark eight to twelve points per game. But what defines Frankfurt most is its defense. They almost always keep their opponents under 80, often even under 70 points.

This is what Captain Benzing says: “We still have unfinished business and now have the opportunity to make amends for the last game against Frankfurt. We know that it will be very difficult against a top team in the league.

This is what Ignjatovic says: “They want to go back to the BBL with all their might. A team that wants to advance wants to avoid another team in the first round of the playoffs. “The victory is therefore very important for both teams,” Ignjatovic indirectly reminds us that in the end a playoff quarter-final between Giessen and Frankfurt (for the first time in the history of the derby) is also possible. “Our trend over the last five games is good overall. We have to build on that. The first leg against Frankfurt was perhaps our worst performance of the season. I don’t want to say that Frankfurt was bad,” but rather that Giessen was significantly worse that day. The key to victory will be similar to when “both teams were very nervous in the first few minutes. Whoever gets over this nervousness first will have an advantage. Hopefully many of our fans will find their way into the hall.”

2024-02-16 09:26:00
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