The North American NBA with its superstars like LeBron James (39) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (29) fascinates basketball fans all over the world. But world champion Johannes Thiemann (30) no longer watches the games in the strongest and most dazzling league in the world.
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“I often have better things to do, especially when you don’t have a game and have a free Sunday evening – for example, go out to dinner with my wife,” says the Alba Berlin captain.
He also doesn’t like the style of play in the NBA: “There’s a lot of showmanship, a lot of time-outs, it takes forever. And there isn’t that much defense played in the first three quarters. Sure, it’s fair to say that the offense in the NBA is strong. The tough shots that are made are impressive. But I’m more of a team sport and European basketball type.”
Thiemann watched a single game in this NBA season: “That was Toronto against San Antonio at the beginning of the season because I wanted to see the duel between Dennis Schröder and Victor Wembanyama (the new NBA prodigy; editor).”
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Thiemann is also in contact with his national team captain Schröder, who now plays for the Brooklyn Nets, during the season: “The last time he visited was at the Cup Final Four in Berlin. We talked there. The national players’ WhatsApp group is also still active. The World Cup will connect us forever. We are twelve brothers. And the Olympics in Paris are already in the back of all of our minds.”
Before that, Thiemann has other goals with Alba Berlin – he has decided for the Euroleague: “Just don’t come last!” Alba is currently in 18th place in the league of the 18 best European clubs with five wins and 23 defeats. Most recently they went against Maccabi Tel Aviv 71:106 under – the biggest home defeat in club history.
“You can lose, but not like that,” says Thiemann. “That’s not us. The least you can do is fight – we didn’t do that. We hung our heads early and gave up.”
We don’t want that to happen again: “We want to develop further as a team and put ourselves in a good starting position for the play-offs in the BBL. It won’t help us if we go down in the Euroleague and don’t play our game. It’s all the more difficult to switch back when everything is at stake in the BBL. We have to stay true to our identity in every game.”
True to the official club motto, which is immortalized on the homepage and stationery: “With body and soul”.
Thiemann is expecting a lot for the BBL – especially when the play-offs start in May. “All in all, we’re doing a good job in the BBL and winning the games we need to win,” says Thiemann. “But we feel the double burden. Once the Euroleague is over for us and we can put our full focus on the BBL, we will make even more progress. Then we compete against the other teams under the same conditions. We will be a stronger team in the playoffs.”
The Euroleague main round ends on April 11th, the play-offs in the BBL begin in mid-May. Alba is currently third in the BBL. Thiemann: “Our goal is to climb one or two more places. 1st place is still possible – we play against Bayern twice more.” He considers the league Croesus, who recently lost to Vechta after 14 BBL wins in a row, to be vulnerable: “Bayern has a very strong, deep squad. Nevertheless, they can be beaten, even in a play-off series over three games.”
2024-03-14 13:52:12
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