For a rare change Germany’s basketball fans were treated to a midweek round of fixtures in the easyCredit Bundesliga this week, with matches taking place over Tuesday and Wednesday. A number of surprising results made headlines in a thrilling round of action; Genius Sports Report takes you through them here.
Chemnitz return to bite Bayern again
By this point, third-placed Niners Chemnitz must have a psychological edge over BBL leaders Bayern Munich. After a five game unbeaten run in the Bundesliga – with a whole host of European wins between – the Niners inflicted another defeat on rivals Bayern by a pretty resounding score of 77-58. The Niners were the last team to be defeat Bayern in the league; it was their fourth victory in their last five games against Bayern and their third successive win this season.
FINAL SCORE | 77-58 | #CHEFCB
Wir verlieren erneut gegen die @ninerschemnitz und holen uns so die fünfte Saisonniederlage in der @easyCreditBBL ab.
📊: @Deshaunthomas_0 14 PTS, 5 REB; #Walden 13 PTS, #FCBB #BBL #WeBallTogether | (c) Stickel pic.twitter.com/h5eSimpN7M
— FC Bayern Basketball (@FCBBasketball) February 15, 2022
By half-time the Niners were 46-28 up, giving Bayern a mountain to climb. Nelson Weidemann, on-loan at Chemnitz from his parent club Bayern, had scored 10 points before the half-time break, rubbing salt in the wounds of the visiting team.
Bayern were uncharacteristically sloppy from the 3-point line, going 5 for 32 with an efficiency of just 16%. Niners, on the other hand, went 11/26 – a 42% efficiency. The Niners also edged out Bayern on steals (5-3), turnovers (13-12) and defensive rebounds (28-20).
Wenn du einfach jede Woche in den #MagentaSport Top 10 sein möchtest 😁⬇️⬇️⬇️. #chemnitz #münchen #basketball #easycreditbbl #welcometowow @easyCreditBBL pic.twitter.com/h8ZYVco70b
— NINERS Chemnitz (@ninerschemnitz) February 15, 2022
Aside from usual-suspects Deshaun Thomas (14) and Corey Walden (13), no other Bayern player scored more than six points. Contrast that with Chemnitz, who had five players register double-figures in points.
The defeat still leaves Bayern leading the pack, but with much to ponder as they enter the international break, without a home league game until the beginning of March.
Berlin dominant in Frankfurt
Alba Berlin’s trip to Fraport Skyliners in Frankfurt proved to be a dominant affair for the visiting team, giving Alba their fourth win in a row and some comfort in fourth place. For Frankfurt, the 56-72 defeat represents their fifth in a row, leaving them dangerously close to the relegation playoff places.
The game was actually in the balance heading into the fourth quarter: Alba Berlin ahead by just four points (54-58). But a bizarre and dominant final 15 minutes saw Frankfurt register just two points in the whole quarter – going nine and a half minutes without scoring a single basket.
Splash! ☔️ Jonas Mattisseck mit seinem dritten Dreier im Spiel gegen die @skyliners1999.
—@easyCreditBBL pic.twitter.com/ubFBRbv5o4— ALBA BERLIN (@albaberlin) February 15, 2022
Christ Koumadje, with 10 points and 12 rebounds, was the most effective player in Berlin’s win, whilst Badio and McLean both scored 17 points for the losing side.
Battle for final playoff spot intensifies
Results last night mean that all three of Gottingen, Hamburg and Bayreuth find themselves tied on 22 points.
Gottingen occupy eight-place – the final available playoff spot – and have been holding off the chasing pack successfully for a number of weeks now. But an 86-79 loss to Ludwigsburg last night has opened the door for Hamburg, who didn’t play during the week, to overtake them using their game in hand.
Similarly, Bayreuth made it three straight wins with their 95-111 win over 17th-place Oldenburg, in a game where defense appeared to have taken a rest day. Bayreuth’s Janari Joesaar lead the scoring with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, whilst Matynus Sajus (21 points, 5 rebounds) and Sacar Anim (18 points, 3 assists) continued their strong run of form to contribute to the win. Ultimately, Bayreuth made their superiority in the rebounds count, gaining double (30-15) those of Oldenburg, which helped rack up their phenomenal scoring output further.
Gegen abgezockte Gäste @medibayreuth entwickeln wir nicht den nötigen Druck in der Defense, nicht genug Tempo offensiv. Die Gäste sind konsequenter(30:15 Rebounds). Wir müssen nach dem Nationalmannschaftsfenster wieder angreifen!
Der Score presented by @EWE_AG
📸Ulf Duda pic.twitter.com/kmIjA9Uq0f
— EWE Baskets Oldenburg (@EWE_Baskets) February 16, 2022
Elsewhere, on Tuesday night, Crailsheim Merlins ran out 89-81 winners against bottom-of-the-table Giessen whilst Braunschweig pulled off a surprisingly-dominant 59-78 victory away at fifth-placed Ulm, inflicting their second defeat in a row.
On Wednesday night, Heidelberg dominated Syntainics MBC by 94-70 in a controlled performance. It stopped a run of four straight defeats for Heidelberg and allowed them to leapfrog Syntainics in the table. The standout game from Wednesday’s action was that between 16th-placed s.Oliver Wurzburg and third-placed Bonn, with Wurzburg picking up just their fifth win of the season in a thrilling encounter that ended 93-90.
