Brose Bamberg captures two wins over the Easter weekend

The basketball players of Brose Bamberg were able to celebrate two wins over the Easter weekend. The team of Head Coach Andrea Trinchieri captured a comfortable 87:75 victory on the road at Walter Tigers on the evening of Maundy Thursday and followed that up with a commanding 88:71 home win over Alba Berlin on Easter Sunday. The German champions and cup winners now have a 12-day break and can prepare in peace and quiet for the regular season’s last two matchdays over three days and the playoffs.

Although Trinchieri was without Leon Radosevic, Elias Harris, Darius Miller, Lucca Staiger and Nikos Zisis in Tübingen, his side opened up a 33:18 gap in the first period and stretched it to 51:31 at the break. After that, the players around top scorer Fabien Causeur (16 points) played out the second half to chalk up a comfortable win.

After the Tigers, Bamberg also went on to defeat the Albatrosses from Berlin on Easter Sunday. From the very first minute, the visitors did not come to terms with the intensity of Bamberg’s defense or its fast ball movement in offense. Buckets from beyond the arc by Nicolo Melli, Darius Miller and Janis Strelnieks soon made it 13:4 for the home side, who increased its lead to double digits by the end of the period (23:13). With its Euroleague campaign over, Bamberg seemed more rested, although it still conceded too many turnovers (13) up to half-time. Yet Alba Berlin was not able to capitalize on that. On the contrary: With its strong defending, Bamberg kept Berlin down to a shooting percentage of just 34 and the favorites even surged 45:24 ahead thanks to further threes by the strong Fabien Causeur (13 points) and Daniel Theis. However, Alba’s new signing Gerald Robinson buried two buckets from downtown before half-time to reduce the deficit to 45:30.

After the break, Bamberg stepped up the pace to begin with and built a 20-point gap (55:35). With this wide lead behind it, the home side reduced its intensity a little in defense and so the visitors were able to drain a number of threes and cut the deficit to 13 points going into the final period (64:51). But the clear victory by Trinchieri’s team was never in doubt, especially as it continued to demonstrate its accuracy from the three-point line. Bamberg made ten out of its 17 attempts – a fantastic percentage of 59. In particular Nikos Zisis (11 points) extended the gap to 25 points (85:60) with his seven points in the final quarter, after which Bamberg allowed Berlin to put a better complexion on the result in the final three minutes.

Andrea Trinchieri commented: “We produced a solid game and were stable and constant in defense. We remembered the earlier game in Berlin, where Kikanovic caused us a lot of problems. We allowed Berlin to achieve a shooting percentage of just 34 in the zone. We only didn’t look good in defense against Robinson a number of times. However, we controlled the game in offense with team basketball and our good passing meant we carved out open shots. Now we have a three-day break, after which we’ll prepare the team for the playoffs.”

Since the game against Phoenix Hagen will not be held due to the fact that the club went insolvent in December, Trinchieri’s players have 12 days off. Bamberg’s next game in the German League is on April 29, 2017, at home against Bremerhaven Polar Bears (tip-off: 6 p.m.).