Brose Bamberg wins in Würzburg

It was Brose Bamberg’s twelfth win out of twelve since their opponents gained promotion back to the top flight. A 88:62 victory on the road in Würzburg means that the German champions remain top of the table in the easyCredit German Basketball League with a point differential of +143, ahead of the likewise undefeated FC Bayern Munich and ratiopharm Ulm.

However, Bamberg fell behind for the first time this season: by 2:13 after just under four minutes and then by 10:20 with a hundred seconds left in the first period. Head Coach Andrea Trinchieri used eleven of his twelve professionals in the first ten minutes in an effort to close the gap. The visitors then turned the game around in masterly fashion with Heckmann, Strelnieks, Theis, Melli and Staiger: Patrick Heckmann made a lay-up plus bonus free throw, Darius Miller and Lucca Staiger drained buckets from downtown, and Daniel Theis added a tip-in on the buzzer to put the German champions 21:20 in front. After that, everything went like clockwork for Trinchieri’s team: Bamberg hardly conceded any points at the back, while up front top scorer Janis Strelnieks (16 points) made his third out of four three-pointers in the game and Miller and Theis completed a 20:0 run straddling the periods to put their side 30:20 ahead. Up to the break (51:32), Bamberg managed to score seven threes in the second quarter; in particular Darius Miller (12 points) and Janis Strelnieks were in accurate form, scoring a combined seven buckets from beyond the arc out of eight attempts.

Nikos Zisis, who scored 14 points on his return after missing the game against Tübingen due to ankle problems, stretched the gap to 56:32 shortly after the break. In the second half, Bamberg’s lead gyrated around the 25-point mark. Würzburg tried valiantly to avert a higher defeat, contested every ball fiercely, and ended up as the only team so far this season to score more than 55 points against Trinchieri’s players. However, the German champs did not let Würzburg get any closer.

Andrea Trinchieri commented: “We didn’t show the necessary focus, especially at the beginning, and got off to a very bad start. But then we produced a solid run and took control of the game. The second period was our best one. After that, it turned into a game with lots of hard contact below the basket and that was dangerous. But what else should I say? We won on the road by 26 points. We didn’t have any problems to solve in the first three games, but we did against Würzburg. We can learn from that. The way we played isn’t enough for the Euroleague. We still have work to do.”

Bamberg now faces BG Göttingen at home in the German league in the BROSE ARENA on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 (tip-off: 8:30 p.m.). The game has been brought forward from the 11th matchday.