Expert Jakob Cup: Brose Bamberg wins warm-up tournament in commanding fashion

The newly formed team of Brose Bamberg has already played five warm-up games in preparation for the new season – and the players of the new Head Coach Ainars Bagatskis have won all five. They romped to two victories at the weekend in the strong Expert Jakob Cup, outclassing the hosts medi Bayreuth by 93:65 on Saturday afternoon and then, in the final on Sunday evening, defeating the Eurocup participants Lokomotiv Kuban by the unexpectedly high margin of 87:64.

Ainars Bagatskis was without three players in Bayreuth: Stevan Jelovac is on duty for the Serbian national team, while Bryce Taylor and William McDowell-White missed both games through injury. However, Elias Harris returned from injury after what seemed an eternity: The 29-year-old Bamberg stalwart, who has been in the squad since December 2013, played just three games last season before suffering a serious knee injury – but now he is back on the attack and at the weekend showed the fight and passion Bamberg lacked in the last campaign. Although the newly formed team around the experienced playmakers Tyrese Rice and Nikos Zisis has trained together for less than three weeks, a lot of its moves are already more fluid and attractive than last season. medi Bayreuth learned that in the first ten minutes on Saturday: Whereas the hosts only made four of their 15 shots against Bamberg’s strong defense, Bagatskis’ team drained eleven out of 13 attempts. As a result, Bamberg was 28:10 ahead after the first period and had as good as clinched the semi-final. The former Euroleague champion Tyrese Rice with his 19 points and the huge talent Arnaldas Kulboka, who scored 18 points thanks to six buckets from outside, extended the gap to 81:51, and the 150 Bamberg fans were more than satisfied as their team ran out 93:65 winners in its first official game.

Bamberg also did not show any weakness in the final against the Russian club Lokomotiv Krasnodar, which had former teammate Dorell Wright and ex-NBA star Isaiah Whitehead in its ranks. With their side trailing by 11:15, Elias Harris and Cliff Alexander (who was strong below the board and ended with a haul of 18 points) produced a run of seven points without reply to make it 18:15 – a lead Bamberg would not surrender. Bamberg pulled further and further ahead thanks to 21 points from Tyrese Rice and 13 by Augustine Rubit, stretching its lead from 45:38 at half-time to 65:51 after the third period. Bagatskis’ team was especially impressive in defending and rebounding. Kuban finished with a shooting percentage of just 37, whereas its opponents made almost half their shots (47%). And Bamberg has signed a true jumping wonder in the shape of center Cliff Alexander: The American’s brilliant timing meant he snapped up a mighty 12 rebounds, five of them in offense, against Kuban’s tall players. Bamberg was the strongest team below the board on both days – 42:26 rebounds against Bayreuth and 44:28 against Kuban – and so seems to have remedied the weakness it displayed in that department last season.

Ainars Bagatskis commented: “You can always take something away from every warm-up game. We’re still playing with a large rotation, but we’re moving in the right direction. We’re showing a bit more quality from game to game. It’s important to see that the players are putting their ego aside and playing for the team. However, we’re still not in good form. At the moment it’s the experienced players in particular who sense what the team needs, because they feel responsible for the team. We’re headed in the right direction, but it’s still not entirely what I as a coach want from them.”