Season 07/08 Gameday 1

[robbe]

First part of the first round is over.

Artland Dragons Quakenbrueck - ALBA Berlin 72:78 (36:44)
Being swept by the Dragons in the first playoff round last season, ALBA needed a strong showing offensively to get revenge on thursday. F Dijon Thompson (20) and SG Julius Jenkins (17) were the topscorers for ALBA, and C Patrick Femerling had an impressive 13/7 outing. PF Dragan Dojcin was excellent too, scoring nine points and dishing out 6 assists. PF Goran Nikolic was rather quiet for his standards. At the moment, PG Bobby Brown and F/C Michael Bradley seem to be the two players that ALBA supporters worry most about. For the hosts, the forward duo of PF Matt Freije (19) and F Terrance Thomas (18) combined for more than half of the teams total points. PG John Goldsberry was a complete disappointment.

Walter Tigers Tuebingen - TBB Trier 77:53 (44:31)
A weak guest performance led to an easy win for the Walter Tigers, who got 21 points from G/F AJ Moye and 13 each from PF Bingo Merriex, C Rasko Katic (also had 13 Reb along with 8 TO) and PG Watari Marsh. F Caleb Green led Trier with 12, while G James Gillingham and C Robert Jackson had 11 each.

Telekom Baskets Bonn - Eisbaeren Bremerhaven 77:67 (37:21)
Bonn started their season successfully, using two 15-0 runs to put away Bremerhaven. The guests had huge problems with the hosts' full court pressure in the first half, throwing the ball away 15(!) times. They threatened to come close in the third, before Bonn used that second 15-0 run to put an end to the visitors' hopes. Though the Magentas won the game in a quite impressive manner, they might have problems playing that gambling, highly agressive defense against teams that are able to execute with more care offensively. PF Ronald Burrell and SG Winsome Frazier led Bonn with 16 each, while G/F Jason Conley had 12. Burrell also had 7 rebounds. G Nate Funk had 15 for the visitors, PF RT Guinn had 12 and C Nate Doornekamp added 10 and 10. Former Trier guards Brian Brown and Tommy Adams disappointed on their Bremerhaven debuts.

New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig - ratiopharm Ulm 75:70 (44:40)
F/C Kyle Visser led Braunschweig with 17 points in this one, while F John Allen contributed 11/7/7. C Anthony Coleman had 13 and 6. Ulm 1.88m PF Jeff Gibbs had 16 and 17, but connected on only 6 of his 20 shot attempts. F Konrad Wysocki was excellent, netting 10 points, getting 15 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists.

Giessen 46ers - BG 04 Goettingen 81:88 (34:44)
Newcomers Goettingen used a stellar 12 man rotation and careful ballhandling (only 9 TO) to steal away victory from Giessen 46ers. F Willie Jenkins had 21 points for the visitors, PG Jeb Ivey had 12. Giessen got 25 points on 9/11 shooting and 8 rebounds from G Mike Umeh, plus 24 and 6 from G/F Rouven Roessler.

Bayer Giants Leverkusen - Paderborn Baskets 74:72 (38:32)
Leverkusen narrowly edged Paderborn in this one, getting 17 points from captain F/C Nate Fox, 14 and 7 from PF Eric Taylor, and 13 from shooter G/F Brendan Winters. The guests were lead by Malik Moore (15) and PG Tim Black (14).

Stats on http://www.basketball-bundesliga.de/.
Top corner on the right.

[Limitless]

The 46ers made the mistake and tried to beat Göttingen in their very own game, playing very fast and finish early instead of forcing them into setplay situations and beating them with strong inside play. There wasn't much contribution from our big men, except for Terdenge, and Sparks didn't do too well as Point Guard in his first BBL game. Still, we could've won the game, but weren't able to kill Göttingen with a Basket when we were up 71-67 with just a few minutes to play. I'm sure that another 46ers-basket would've put the nail in the coffin of the BG74, but Robinson lost the ball on the inbounds pass and Göttingen regained the momemtum. In the end, they've earned the W with a good 1st half, when we rebounded badly and had huge problems with the full court press that they played. But we showed in the 2nd half that we've got a good team and try to bounce back in this weeks games against Berlin and Cologne.