Basketball: Brose Bamberg's derby defeat makes play-off participation less likely

Was the Franconian derby already the preliminary decision for the play-offs? Brose Bamberg conceded a painful 99:106 defeat against local rivals Würzburg Baskets after extra time, even though the Amiel boys were still leading by seven points with 95 seconds left in regulation time. But in the final minutes Bamberg made too many mistakes.

What is really annoying about the avoidable defeat is the fact that Bamberg has now also lost the direct comparison against play-off rivals Würzburg. Bamberg is now in tenth place in the table, two losses behind Würzburg, and the Lower Franconians, with their difficult remaining programme, have to lose three more games than Bamberg by the end of the main round for the Amiel team to climb to eighth place. It even looked good for a Bamberg victory until 32 seconds before the end. Three-pointer Jaromír Bohačík, basket plus bonus free throw Patrick Heckmann, 6:0 lead. Although the Lower Franconians also gradually got into the game and were able to take a 20:22 lead at the end of the quarter, Bamberg impressed with strong defence in the second quarter and only allowed 16 points from the guests. Bamberg went into the dressing room with a 46:38 lead.

After the change of ends, Jaromír Bohačík gave Bamberg a double-digit lead for the first time, and Chris Sengfelder added a three-pointer to make it 54:42. But that was to remain the highest lead. Würzburg's playmaker Stanley Whittaker slowly woke up and with his points the guests reduced the lead to 67:64 after quarter three, a three-pointer by the Würzburg player six minutes before the end even put the guests in the lead. Bamberg remained confident: Top scorers Patrick Miller and Chris Sengfelder threw Bamberg to 80:72, Sengfelder hit the next two three-pointers for an 88:81 lead 100 seconds before the end. But then the mistakes on Bamberg's side increased. Two avoidable bad passes in a row, Würzburg came back to 88:86.

But worse was the whistle against Patrick Miller 27 seconds before the end - Miller's fifth foul, the playmaker was out. After the throw-in, veteran Jaromír Bohačík of all people fouled the ball and the guests equalised for overtime. And then Würzburg were the better team - without their best playmaker, Bamberg had hardly any order in their offensive play, after the 97:97 one minute before the end, Bamberg acted headless, Würzburg even won the direct comparison with a basket shot and a bonus free throw in the final second.

Oren Amiel: "We didn't manage to get a grip on Whittaker throughout the entire game. He humiliated us by every trick in the book. The way we performed in the decisive phase was a disaster."

On Easter Sunday, 9 April 2023, Brose Bamberg has to play at MLP Academics Heidelberg. Jump is at 3 pm.

Further information at www.brosebamberg.de and www.easycredit-bbl.de.