Brose Bamberg takes 1:0 lead in the quarter-final against Bonn

German champions Brose Baskets have started the 2017/2018 playoffs with a victory. The team of Head Coach Luca Banchi won 87:74 against Telekom Baskets Bonn, a club that has been able to win the opening quarter-final encounter in Bamberg’s Brose Arena three times in the past ten years. It was in particular the veterans Wright, Zisis and Hackett who led Bamberg to a deserved success.

Luca Banchi began the game with an interesting tactic. The youngsters Louis Olinde and Aleksej Nikolic were on court from the outset and played the entire first six minutes. Bonn got off to the better start and was able to build a slight lead. However, Bamberg did not became agitated, but instead continued to play solidly and with focus. In particular, the ex-NBA star Dorell Wright kept on scoring and put Bamberg ahead with eight points in a row in three attacks. Luka Mitrovic rounded off the home side’s run of ten points without reply by making it 22:18. In the second period, Bamberg was more effective in breaking down the defense of the club from the Rhineland. Dorell Wright drained his third three and made all of his six shots from the floor up to half-time. Augustine Rubit was also in accurate form, notching up 11 of his total haul of 16 points before the break to help put Bamberg 48:41 in front at half-time.

Shortly after the break, the home side took a double-digit lead for the first time through top scorer Dorell Wright (24 points). However, Bonn put up stiff resistance and was able to cut the deficit to 60:56. Yet Bonn did not come any closer, also thanks to Daniel Hackett, who kept such a tight leash on Josh Mayo that Bonn’s playmaker and prolific scorer was not able to add a single further point after the break after scoring 14 in the first half. Bamberg thus remained ahead all the time in the final period and always had an answer when Bonn scored. The old hands Daniel Hackett and Nikos Zisis made it 77:68 to as good as seal the game, then Lucca Staiger drained his second three with three minutes left (80:70). Shortly after that, Daniel Hackett also buried a bucket from downtown to make it 83:72 and clinch victory with 90 seconds to go.

Luca Banchi commented: “Fourth versus fifth promised to be an interesting pairing. Both sides put a lot energy into the game and displayed fight and passion. We responded well to our weak spells. We have to keep focused in game two and play as a team again as we did today.”