“I’m a fan myself. Only then do I think that I’m part of it,” said Moritz late on Thursday evening about the big basketball show in the Uber Arena. But also so quickly that the game couldn’t keep up at first when Moritz and Franz were actually on the court in the first regular NBA game on the German stage.
It all fits into the grand narrative
It took quite a long time before a Wagner – or even a German, Tristan da Silva also played in the game – made a significant appearance in the Orlando Magic’s 118:111 defeat of the Memphis Grizzlies. Franz only scored his first points in the 13th minute, and later in the same quarter his Magic were behind by 20 points.
But then everything fit into the grand narrative of those days. With Moritz, who found his role in what he called an “energy game”: as a man for the emotional, who likes to go “all in” in every respect, with a chin wound as a suitable visual accent.
The older of the Berlin brothers showed in his second game after a torn cruciate ligament that he can be a valuable source of inspiration off the bench, not least in defense; offensively he scored seven points. And with Franz as a “man for the big moments,” as coach Jamahl Mosley put it.
Towards the end, Wagner, the younger, actually had a number of decisive actions, from the three-point line, on free throws, on rebounds, and scored 13 of his 18 points in the last quarter alone. He was also recently missing due to an ankle injury.
It was also about something sporting
When asked if a comeback game like this could give the Magic a boost to their hitherto shaky season, he said: “Not this game, but if we improve offensively, we can have a very, very long postseason run.”
Despite everything going on, you couldn’t forget that: that it was also about sport. And it’s not just about the fact that the NBA is in the city, which stands for great entertainment, which seemed to the hall announcer to be an obligation for appropriate permanent animation. He promised “free stuff all evening” to fans from 62 countries who had paid up to 1,000 euros for tickets before it rained free T-shirts again and again.
The accompanying program sometimes oscillated a bit between Friedrichstadt-Palast and Neon-Späti, and the almost 14,000 fans, including a number of A, B and C celebrities, only really got going when the game picked up speed. All in all, the overall highly professional NBA was exactly the guest that people in Berlin had wanted.
Before the game, Adam Silver, the commissioner, spoke about the special mix of sports and entertainment and described in detail his vision of the new European league, which is scheduled to start in autumn 2027, under the leadership of the NBA and under the umbrella of the World Basketball Association (FIBA).
Basketball in the Euroleague is predominantly highly deficient
It should be a product with global appeal, he said; big names are being discussed. It’s no coincidence that Silver raved about European football culture; He would like to work together with football; the market is already big enough for both. However, it still remains to be seen whether and how quickly reality will catch up with the hype that is supposed to be sparked around this league in order to make it attractive for investors and media partners, including with the Berlin game, which will be followed by another in London on Sunday.
Basketball may be the fastest growing sports market in Europe, with the German market at the top, but so far it has been predominantly highly deficit in its most prominent form, the Euroleague.
Meanwhile, the representatives of the local industry giant Alba were happy about a sentence from Silver that almost sounded like “I am a Berliner” – or even a little better: “Alba is the model of a club that we want to see in the league,” said Silver, especially with regard to youth work. But this fantasy also needs to be backed up with corresponding numbers before it becomes reality in NBA Europe.
For visitors to Berlin who are not interested in sports, now that the circus has moved on, Richard-Wagner-Platz can undoubtedly be found again as such. The Berliner Verkehrsgesellschaft had renamed the subway station either Franz-Wagner-Platz or Moritz-Wagner-Platz and had signage accordingly. The mayor, on the other hand, is still called Wegner, even if the basketball visit from America was probably a welcome change from the unsuccessful tennis.
