Would Marvin Willoughby Throwing a big party for his 48th birthday would be Niners Chemnitz, whose fans had already pulled the fire alarm in the past, probably not on the guest list. The AI that creates the game plan Basketball Bundesliga created, but cares very little about the honorary day of the founder of the Veolia Towers Hamburg..
But even artificial intelligence occasionally gets things right. After all, what could be sweeter than celebrating an 86:69 (14:18, 26:19, 26:13, 20:19) victory against probably the most unloved competitor in the league together with 2921 guests in the Inselpark Arena? In any case, there wasn’t much that came to mind for Saturday evening. Especially since the team has a head coach Benka Barloschka With their fifth win of the season, they gained further breathing room in the relegation battle.
Veolia Towers Hamburg defeat Niners Chemnitz
However, it took a long time to get there. Because, unfortunately, the hosts began as if they had celebrated Willoughby’s birthday the night before. Only two of the first 16 throws from the field found their target, with the score at 4:13 (8th) Barloschky took the first timeout. Since at least the defense of the Towers, which was full for the first time this season, was solid, the deficit at the quarter break remained moderate at four points.
The return of Zsombor Maronka (23) was successful.
© Witters | Leonie Horky
The importance of the return of all ailing actors was shown at the beginning of section two. The Hungarian Zsombor Maronka, who was missing for more than a month, let in two three-pointers to make it 20:18 (11th). Meanwhile, Chemnitz was also throwing as if the players had spent a little too much time with the Niners fan club “Die Austrinker”.
Nice birthday present for Marvin Willoughby
But perhaps it is also a magic potion that the Saxons who love to travel ingest. After the interim low, the guests around ex-Hamburg player Kevin Yebo really turned up the heat. The Wilhelmsburg team, on the other hand, had great difficulty scoring points near the basket. In particular, the otherwise reliable playmaker Ross Williams was quite out of character.
One plot twist later, the towers had turned everything around again. Willoughby may not have received an aesthetically pleasing game for his birthday, but rather an exciting one. One that took the expected course after half-time, as the home team now pulled away.
Benka Barloschky gets the team on track
Oops, you read that right. It would have been hard to believe until mid-December, but the Towers, who have won four times in a row across all competitions, are now slight favorites at home against their arch-rivals, who have recently lost four times at national level.
Routine that cannot be measured in numbers: Martin Breunig (33) helps the Towers immensely.
© Witters | Leonie Horky
Barloschky has once again managed to get his team on track after initial difficulties – also thanks to the subsequent signings of Williams, Devon Daniels and Martin Breunig. Handwriting is now recognizable. Whether it should be the aim of a club from Germany’s second largest city to mess up the start of the season every year in order to make a big splash later is another matter.
Niners comeback comes to nothing
But for now, the coaching team, the sporting management around Willoughby and, last but not least, the players themselves deserve respect for the massive improvement. This manifested itself in a mature final quarter in which Hamburg confidently resisted Chemnitz’s half-hearted efforts.
Success was never in doubt. But another question remained unanswered: Where was Willoughby? The sports director did not spend his birthday in the Inselpark Arena. He probably celebrated with his two sons at home – happy and guaranteed without Chemnitzer. But it was only after the victory, he said, that he was able to really enjoy the day.
The day before the game, Willoughby had expressed very self-critical tones. “We all did our part to keep things from going well for a long time.” Therefore, the club may have to rethink its previous – although successful in the past – philosophy of primarily signing players with development potential. “We took risks that have since fallen on our feet. Maybe we should bring in more experienced players in the future and spend more money on them.” Now the turnaround seems to have been achieved. And that’s also Willoughby’s credit. He always trusted the coach.
“We are becoming more mature every day. Today’s performance confirmed that. Winning the game in such a controlled manner is very, very mature,” said Barloschky. “The veterans Martin Breunig, Niklas Wimberg and Benedikt Turudic led the way in training and brought in a seriousness. It was a big topic to maintain leadership. That worked well.”
Veolia Towers Hamburg: Daniels (25 points), Thorpe (13), Breunig (10), Williams (9), Turudić (7), Maronka (6), Perrin (5), Ogbe (5), Wimberg (4), Rich (2), Gray.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(839x768:841x770)/gerard-pique-clara-chia-marti-4988bc7f277e4fd582d0bec2fd162770.jpg)