It’s not even half time in the main round of the easyCredit BBL, and yet the Fitness First Würzburg Baskets already have the third do-or-die game of the season ahead of them: On Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m., the third and decisive game of the play-ins will be against Patrioti Levice for a place in the “Round of 16” of the Basketball Champions League. The winner of the game will face Unicaja Malaga and Joventut Badalona from Spain as well as Elan Chalon from France in Group K of the round of 16 next week.
There are still times left for the encounter with the six-time Slovakian champions Tickets of all categories in the online shop and available at the box office on Wednesday from 5 p.m. The game will be available to subscribers like all BBL and BCL games live at Dyn shown, the commentator will be Stefan Koch. 72 hours later, the Baskets continue with the first Frankenderby of the season: On Saturday at 6:30 p.m., the BBL’s second-placed team will compete in the BMA365 Bamberg Baskets.
The starting position on Wednesday is clear: the winner of the encounter will start the “Round of 16” of the Basketball Champions League exactly one week later with an away game at two-time champion Unicaja Malaga, the losing team can fully concentrate on the domestic league.
The Lions from Levice prevailed in Game 1 of the play-in series last Tuesday with 91:88 in Gymhell. Thanks to much better defense, the Baskets took revenge two days later in Bratislava with a 74:56 away win. In Game 2, Marcus Carr returned to the floor after his left calf injury and led his team to a confident away win with 20 points and 6 assists. It was the Baskets’ second do-or-die game of the season. Number one was the round of 16 in the BBL Cup, which ended with a 60:61 defeat in Oldenburg.
In the 104:100 win after overtime at RASTA Vechta on Sunday, Carr and his left calf were spared, so the Canadian can go into the most important Baskets game of the current season so far on Wednesday well rested. However, head coach Sasa Filipovski will have to do without Alen Pjanic (16 points/3 three-pointers in Game 2 in Bratislava), who suffered a muscle injury in the adductor area in the first quarter on Sunday and will be out for several weeks.
League leaders Patrioti Levice didn’t have a game in the local SBL at the weekend, so they were able to recover three days longer than the Baskets. The lions arrive in Würzburg on Tuesday, complete a training session in the afternoon and a shootaround in the tectake ARENA on Wednesday.
