Play Off Germania

[Ale Div.]

Germany - Favorites prevail the first round of the Playoffs

By Josie Esch

The BBL Playoffs have started this weekend with no surprises: all the favorites (RheinEnergie Köln, GHP Bamberg, Eisbären Bremerhaven and ALBA Berlin) have won their matches and lead their Best-of-five series with 1:0.

After GHP Bamberg’s Demond Mallet hurts himself just before the start of the Playoffs (cruciate ligament crack) also the Telekom Baskets Bonn have to play the rest of season without one of their main players: Jason Conley got a capillary crack in his foot and is going to get operate next week.

The second round of the quarter finals is going to be on Thursday, 4th May.

RheinEnergie Köln – EnBW Ludwigsburg 94:68 (44:33)

Köln-Coach Sasa Obradovic: “We have started very nervously, probably because of the lack of playing time in the last couple of weeks, but we dominated every part of the game. I’m very happy about the victory but that’s just one step in a long series of steps and Ludwigsburg is known for their strong home field performance. ”

Ludwigsburg-Coach Silvano Poropat: -

Köln: McGowan 23, Ivory 17, McElroy 14, Gortat 9 (11reb), Nadjfeji 8, Sljivancanin 8, Jordan 6, Grünheid 6, Talts 2, Vucurovic 1, Strasser

Ludwigsburg: Goljovic 18, Love 9, Green 8, Scott 8, Jazvin 7, Nesovic 6, Jelesijevic 5, Boddicker 4, Mittmann 2, Kesselring 1, Kalamiza

GHP Bamberg – Telekom Baskets Bonn 78:66 (40:31)

Bamberg-Coach Dirk Bauermann: “We have done our homework well and thoroughly. We knew that it would be difficult. But we have started well and defend on a very high level. After that Bonn showed a very good passing game and hit difficult three-pointers. But we kept calm and reacted intelligent in the Defense especially the tall players shown themselves very dedicated.”

Bonn-Coach Michael Koch: “Bamberg has defend for 40 minutes very aggressive, which caused huge problems. But we came back thanks to our three-pointers. My team has fought till so that I can’t reproach anything. Today we have lost because of three strong phases of Bamberg and that we couldn’t shorten the distance in the end. We’ve missed Jason Conley badly.”

Bamberg: Garrett 20, Nelson 13, Helmanis 12, Hamann 10, Begley 8, Ensminger 7, Archibong 4, Phelps 2, Nahar 2, Stafford

Bonn: Wisniewski 15, Perincic 13, Janza 10, Mihajlovic 9, Meeks 7, Kolodziejski 6, Tomeljak 3, Paravinja 3, Black

Eisbären Bremerhaven – Artland Dragons 81:76 (36:27)

Bremerhaven-Coach Sarunas Sakalauskas: “You could see clearly, that theirs no big difference between the fourth and fifth position. The Dragons have a lot of potential, but in the first half we managed it to stop Quakenbrück in the Defense. Add to it we created the better shots in the first 20 minutes. In the second half the Dragons were faster and more aggressive than we were. We permitted too many easy shots. That’s what we have to avoid. The victory was very important. The psychological pressure is now on Quakenbrück. They have to win at home and not fall behind. Nevertheless we have to be attentive, because the Dragons are very strong at home and their fans are going to be hot, too. ”

Artland-Coach Chris Fleming: “I don’t want to curtail the performance of Bremerhaven, but I don’t agree with several decisions of the referees. For two times I’ve asked the refs to pay attention on the boxing out after the free-throws that it go on correctly. But nothing happened. And then Prewitt gets an unsportsmanlike foul. The referees gave just 19 fouls to the Eisbären but 27 to us. Add to it they got 33 free-throws, we just 12. Just after the incidents last weekend in Bamberg, you ask yourself where is that going to.”

Bremerhaven: Fenn 21, B. Jones 16, Jacobson 14, Wallace 10, Jocys 8, Bennett 7, Bynum 5, Dawidowski, Maneikis, Stein

Artland: Rivera 20, Walker 17, Bulic 10, D. Hall 9, Smith 8, Prewitt 6, Lampley 4, Bailey 2, Rohdewald

ALBA Berlin – EWE Baskets Oldenburg 102:92 (59:47)

Berlin-Coach Henrik Rödl: “As expected it was a very though match. Oldenburg is much better than their eighth position. That’s going to be a difficult series. We had to get focused again after the highs in the cup, what we overall succeeded. Both teams are going to concentrate on their Defense after the high number of points. ”

Oldenburg-Coach Don Beck: “ALBA started after their success last week as expected with much enthusiasm. They have hit very well and played aggressive. I’m proud of my team that they have fought back and made the match marginal again.”

Berlin: Greene 23, Stanojevic 18, Lollis 16, Mazeika 13, Hollis 13, Whitehead 7, Ford 7, Canak 3, Kulawick 2, Arigbabu

Oldenburg: Penigar 16, McCoy 14, Edwards 13, Blanchard 12, Johnson 9, Valters 8, Dixon 8, Strauch 7, C. Brown 5, Burke, Popescu

2.5.2006

www.basketball-bundesliga.de

www.basketball-bundesliga.de

[Ale Div.]

Tradotto: botte da orbi a Bonn tra i giocatori del Telekom e quelli del Bamberg!!!!

Germany - Big fight in Bonn

By Josie Esch

The second round of the Playoff quarter finals is clouded by a scandalous match between Telekom Baskets Bonn and GHP Bamberg. Till the twelfth minute the game was more or less a usual one, with the common conflicts under the baskets, but an activity by Steffen Hamann against Michael Meeks caused the escalation. Meeks was unstoppable, pulled Hamann to the ground and nearly everyone of both teams (players, coaches) ran on the court and a huge fight started. First injured of this fight: Hamann suffered a bloody wound on his right hand. It took several moments till the parties could be separated. Now all minds were heated and memorable decisions should followed: after a 20 minutes gap the referees announced through the speaker: 5 players of Bonn and 8 players of Bamberg were disqualified for the rest of the game, in other words: for the remaining 27 minutes 4 players of Bamberg (Chris Ensminger, Robert Garrett, Tim Begley and Spencer Nelson) played against 5 players of Bonn (Aljaz Janza, Ivan Tomeljak, John Stark, Milos Paravinja and Artur Kolodziejski). Novelty in the Basketball Bundesliga. The following minutes didn’t show nice Basketball. For Bonn the mental pressure was very high, too easy seemed the constellation 5:4 but the problem was that GHP had 3 main players on court and Bonn 4 bench players and one player who had never played one match in the Bundesliga (playes normally in the 2. Regionalliga). That’s why Bamberg could distance themselves to 26:43 (19. minute) due to their strong Defense under the basket. In the half time break Bonn’s coach Michael Koch seemed to have found the right words and tactics and his players could win the third quarter with 20:7. Now Bonn was more successful from the range and their Defense got better, but Bamberg didn’t give up and kept the match closely till the 39. minute when the Baskets could distance themselves with 9 points (70:61). The victory was definite, but the match not over yet. 9 seconds till the end Ensminger got his fifth foul and ran provoking towards Bonn’s Coach Koch. Paravinja ran between them, Ensminger fell down and Paravinja got a disqualifying foul, Bamberg’s Coach Bauermann start to argue and got two technical fouls, which also meant a disqualification – now it was just 4:3 players and one headcoach. In the end Bonn won 75:64 and equalled the series to 1:1. After this abnormal match Bamberg entered a protest against the match.

Which consequences both teams have to bear is going to be announced today or tomorrow after a video analysis.

Some pictures on the homepage of the Telekom Baskets Bonn by Ralf Jannke: http://www.telekom-baskets-bonn.de/score/s...m2/1/index.html

But of course also the other teams had played with one bigger surprise:

EWE Baskets Oldenburg beat ALBA Berlin 80:74 and could also balanced the series 1:1, j

ust like the Artland Dragons, who won 67:56 against Eisbären Bremerhaven.

Only RheinEnergie Köln could prove their favourite ambition with their 84:76-victory against EnBW Ludwigsburg.

Scoutings coming soon

5.5.2006

[sertar]

Quarti di finale, gara 3:

RheinEnergie Köln - EnBW Ludwigsburg 92-66 - 3-0

K: Jordan 11, Nadjfeji 16, Strasser 6, Talts, Gortat 3, Mc Gowan 22, McElroy 5, Vucurovic 3, Grünheid 13, Sljivancanin 5, Ivory 8.

L: Kalamiza 3, Green 13, Love, Goljovic 9, Jelesijevic 12, Jazvin 13, Cavlin, Kesserling 2, Nesovic 5, Boddicker 9.

GHP Bamberg - Telekom Baskets 76-64 - 2-1

Ba: Ensminger 10, Stafford 10, Pavic 3, Garrett 9, Phelps 4, Hauer, Archibong 15, Nahar 6, Begley 13, Nelson 6.

Bo: Janza 16, Tomeljak 15, Stark 2, Perincic 13, Kolodziejski 5, Mihajlovic 1, Black 12.

Eisbären Bremerhaven - Artland Dragons 94-87 - 2-1

B: Bynum 12, Jones 17, Jacobson 20, Dawidowski, Maneikis 2, Fenn 15, Jocys 4, Stein 5, Wallace 12, Bennett 7.

A: Prewitt 9, Puljko, Bulic 19, Rivera 10, Rohdewald 3, Hall 9, Bailey 10, Smith 5, Lampley 22.

ALBA Berlin - EWE Baskets Oldenburg 83-77 - 2-1

B: Lollis 7, Mazeika 4, Stanojevic 19, Greene 21, Canak 4, Price 10, Penberthy, Whitehead 6, Ford 12.

O: Strauch, Penigar 25, Burke 7, Mc Coy 4, Popescu 2, Valters 6, Johnson 6, Edwards 23, Dixon 4.

[sertar]

La rissa di cui sopra ha comportato le seguenti sanzioni:

After the brawl at the play-off-game between the Telekom Baskets Bonn and GHP Bamberg several players, who were involved, received punishments: Michael Meeks (207-C/F-72, college: Canisius) of Telekom Bonn got a suspension for six games and a fine of 5000 Euro. Uvis Helmanis (204-F-72, agency: Stanley International) has to pay 2000 Euro and received a three games penalty, while his teammate Steffen Hamann (190-G-81) will be out for the next three games. Also he has to pay 3500 Euro. Bonns Andrew Wisniewski (191-G-81, college: Centenary) will have to sit out the next three games and got a fine of 3500 Euro as well. Milos Paravinja (210-C/F-79, agency: Interperformances) got a suspension for a single game (plus 1500 Euro). Finally Bambergs head coach Dirk Bauermann was fined with 3000 Euro after his disqualification

[Ale Div.]

10/05/2006 - 09:21

Germania: Bamberg in semifinale

Bundesliga, Quarti di finale, Gara 4

RheinEnergie Köln già in semifinale

Telekom Baskets - GHP Bamberg 60-70 - 1-3

Bo: Janza 8, Tomeljak 12, Stark, Perincic 9, Paravinjia 16, Kolodziejski 5, Mihajlovic 4, Black 6, Chebib.

Ba: Ensminger 13, Stafford 8, Pavic, Garrett 10, Phelps 8, Archibong 7, Simpkins, Nahar 3, Begley 12, Nelson 9.

Artland Dragons - Eisbären Bremerhaven 74-59 - 2-2

A: Prewitt 5, Puljko, Bulic 26, Rivera 14, Rohdewald 1, Hall 5, Bailey 8, Bond 3, Woltmann, Smith 5, Lampley 7.

B: Bynum 9, Jones 7, Jacobson 8, Dawidowski, Maneikis 2, Fenn 10, Jocys, Stein 3, Wallace 17, Bennett 3.

EWE Baskets Oldenburg - ALBA Berlin 83-79 - 2-2

O: Strauch, Penigar 8, Burke 3, Mc Coy 36, Popescu 1, Valters 15, Johnson 5, Edwards 2, Dixon 13.

B: Lollis 7, Mazeika 1, Stanojevic 15, Greene 10, Canak 5, Price 20, Penberthy 4, Whitehead 13, Ford 4.

[Il_Cinghiale]

Gara 5 quarti di finale

Eisbären Bremerhaven - Artland Dragons 64-61 3-2

ALBA Berlin - EWE Baskets Oldenburg 110-82 3-2

Semifinali

Gara 1

ALBA Berlin - Bremerhaven 91:68

GHP Bamberg - RE Köln 83:79

Gara 2

Bremerhaven - ALBA Berlin 87:85

RE Köln - GHP Bamberg 65:49

[Ale Div.]

19/05/2006 - 10:06

Germania: Semifinali, pareggiano Colonia e Bremerhaven

Germania, Semifinali, Gara 2

RheinEnergie Köln - GHP Bamberg 65-49 - 1-1

K: Jordan 10, Nadjfeji 17, Talts, Gortat 3, McGowan 3, McElroy 11, Grünheid 4, Sljivancanin 1, Ivory 16.

B: Ensminger 7, Hamann 13, Stafford 3, Helmanis 2, Pavic, Phelps 13, Archibong 5, Nahar 1, Begley, Nelson 5.

Eisbären Bremerhaven - ALBA Berlin 87-85 - 1-1

Br: Bynum 5, Jones 11, Jacobson 25, Maneikis, Fenn 18, Jocys 10, Pleuger, Stein, Wallace 18.

Be: Lollis 8, Mazeika 2, Stanojevic 21, Greene 14, Canak 12, Price 14, Whitehead 2, Ford 12.

[Il_Cinghiale]

Semifinali

Gara 3

ALBA Berlin - Bremerhaven 93-89

GHP Bamberg - RE Köln 87-58

Gara 4

Bremerhaven - ALBA Berlin 82-95

RE Köln - GHP Bamberg 69-66

Gara 5

GHP Bamberg - RE Köln 68-69

Finale

ALBA Berlin - RE Köln

[Il_Cinghiale]

Stanojevic 21

Mi spiace ma...

Bad news for the fans of ALBA Berlin: The knee-injury, that topscorer Jovo Stanojevic (207-C-77, agency: Beo Basket) suffered in Game Four against Bremerhaven on tuesday turned out to be a torn ACL. Examinations will clarify, if also the ligamentum collaterale tibiale is damaged. Thus, the season is over for Stanojevic, who averaged 16.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 1.7 apg in 36 games of the current season. ALBA has to replace his best scorer in the finals, that begin on sunday.

(Source: www.albaberlin.de)

[Il_Cinghiale]

Il programma delle finali BBL.

28.05.2006 Berlin - Köln 19:30

01.06.2006 Köln - Berlin 19:30

04.06.2006 Berlin - Köln 19:00

06.06.2006 Köln - Berlin 19:30

08.06.2006 Berlin - Köln 20:00

[Il_Cinghiale]

Gara 1

ALBA Berlin 79:88 RE Köln

ALBA:Quadre Lollis 21, Demond Greene 11, Nenad Canak 7, Hollis Price 11, Mike Penberthy 9, Luke Whitehead 6, Sharrod Ford 10, Stephen Arigbabu 4

RE: Michael-Hakim Jordan 16, Aleksandar Nadjfeji 19, Janar Talts 7, Marcin Gortat 10, Glen McGowan 11, Guido Grünheid 9, Titus Ivory 16

The finals started with a win on the road. Koeln won the first game in Berlin and took the lead in the series. The hosts were without Jovo Stanojevic (207-C-77, agency: Beo Basket) for the first time, but had Mike Penberthy (191-G-74, college: Master's) back on board again. ALBA had the better start and was ahead with 12:5 quickly. But at 21:22 Koeln took the lead. At halftime ALBA was behind with one point (35:36). After three periods the score was 51:57 and ALBA came closer again (56:59 and 63:64), but wasn't able to take the last step to victory. Then Michael Jordan (183-G-78, agency: Court Side, college: Pennsylvania) and Titus Ivory (193-G-79, college: Penn St.) hit their shots and made the decision in Koelns favor, though Penberthy hit another three from way outside.

Quadre Lollis (200-F-73, college: Montana St.) added 21 points for ALBA, while Aleksandar Nadjfeji (203-F-76) posted 19 points (8/9 FG), Ivory and Jordan both posted 16.

Il tabellino completo.

[Il_Cinghiale]

Gara 2

RE Köln 64:69 ALBA Berlin

ALBA:Quadre Lollis 14, Martynas Mazeika 2, Demond Greene 5, Nenad Canak 2, Hollis Price 17, Mike Penberthy 3, Luke Whitehead 5, Sharrod Ford 14, Stephen Arigbabu 7

RE: Michael-Hakim Jordan 14, Aleksandar Nadjfeji 11, Marcin Gortat 12, Glen McGowan 4, Mladjen Sljivancanin 3, Titus Ivory 10

By celebrating a 69:64-win on the road, ALBA Berlin made the equalizer in the final-series against RheinEnergie Koeln. Once again only small details made the difference in a very intense game. Koeln had some foul-trouble to solve and needed to fight hard against ALBAs defense, that didn't make things easy for the Obradovic-boys and forced 17 turnovers on Koelns side. At halftime ALBA was ahead with 4 points (36:32), but REK reduced to 2 during the third quarter. But the guests from the German capital had the better ending at last.

Michael Jordan (183-G-78, agency: Court Side, college: Pennsylvania) posted 14 points (including 4 three-pointers) and 4 assists, while Marcin Gortat (213-C-84) had 12 points and 6 boards for the hosts. Hollis Price (186-G-79, agency: Octagon, college: Oklahoma) scored most for ALBA (17 points), followed by Quadre Lollis (200-F-73, college: Montana St.) and Sharrod Ford (206-F-82, agency: David Lee services, college: Clemson) with both 14.

Il tabellino completo.

[Il_Cinghiale]

Gara 3

ALBA Berlin 80:82 RE Köln

A fantastic comeback of the guests from Koeln in game three of the final-series shocked the 10.050 fans in the completely sold-out Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin and makes REK dream of the first German championship in the history of the club. Though a victory seemed to be out of reach for Koeln after 26 minutes, when ALBA was ahead with 55:32 (halftime: 44:25), the team of coach Sasa Obradovic didn't give up at all, proved its brilliant fighting spirit and turned things around. Point by point, including a 16:0-run, they made up ground, until the last second of the game, when Immanuel McElroy (193-G-80, college: Cincinnati) hit the game-winning three-pointer, assisted by Titus Ivory (193-G-79, college: Penn St.). Just like in the decisive game during the semifinals, when Aleksandar Nadjfeji (203-F-76) was the one to nail the victory with a three in the last moments of the game versus Bamberg. ALBA lost the last two periods with 19:25 and 17:32, after they dominated the first half. Koeln was led by Ivory, who scored 20 points and grabbed 5 boards, and McElroy with 17 points and 9 rebounds. For ALBA both Quadre Lollis (200-F-73, college: Montana St.) and Demond Greene (185-G-79, agency: Court Side) posted 17 points.

Koeln is now only one win away from the championship and has the chance to win the title at home, when the next game takes place on Tuesday. ALBA needs a win on the road to avoid this and to enforce game five.

Il tabellino completo.

[Il_Cinghiale]

Gara 4

RE Köln 85:74 ALBA Berlin

RheinEnergie Köln

Michael Jordan (9), Aleksandar Nadjfeji (9), Janar Talts (6), Marcin Gortat (12), Glen McGowan (17), Immanuel McElroy (13), Guido Grünheid (5), Mladjen Sljivancanin (3), Titus Ivory (11).

ALBA Berlin

Quadre Lollis (4), Martynas Mazeika, Demond Green (9), Nenad Canak (7), Hollis Price (15), Michael Penberthy (5), Luke Whitehead (7), Sharrod Ford (25), Stephen Arigbabu (2).

RheinEnergie Koeln is the best basketball-team in Germany!

By beating ALBA Berlin at home (85:74) in Game Four of the finals, REK won the Bundesliga championship 2005-2006. The first in the clubs history. The last team from the city of Koeln to win the title was BSC Saturn back in 1988.

What a success for the the club, that joined the league in 2001 and won the German Cup in 2003-2004. And what a fantastic success for rookie-coach Sasa Obradovic in his first season after he announced his retirement as a player. "This is the best day of my life", he said to basketball-bundesliga.de. The former gold-medalist of the World Championships led Koeln to a third place in the regular season and then his squad managed to grow and improve once more, when the play-offs started. They sweeped EnBW Ludwigsburg in the first round and then came out of an amazingly intense series versus GHP Bamberg as the winner. Everybody remembers the buzzerbeat, which Aleksandar Nadjfeji (203-F-76) fired off in the last second of Game Five. But the Obradovic-boys were far away from being exhausted after this hard semifinal-series and had lots of energy left. They proved this fact in an impressive manner, when they defeated ALBA in front of more than 10.000 fans on the road on Sunday by achieving an awesome comeback-victory after they were behind with 32:55 in the meantime. Then a McElroy's three-pointer at the horn destroyed ALBA. After all this game must be considered as the key to the success. Because this victory put the opponents in shock and gave the chance to win the title at home.

And that's what the REK-players did. In Game Four Koelns great team-performance helped a lot making the final step to the crown. Four players scored in double figures, two added 9 points, while hitting 58.8% from the field totally. Glen McGowan (206-F-81, agency: Elfus-Siegel Management (ESM), college: Pepperdine) topscored with 17, but every part of the squad was a winner. For ALBA Sharrod Ford posted a personal season-high of 25 points, but he and his teammates were not able to return and tie the series. Koeln took control from beginning on and was ahead at halftime with 45:32. So the crowd in a completely sold-out Energy Dome had a lot of time to prepare for the celebrations and started already while the game was still on.

Immanuel McElroy (193-G-80, college: Cincinnati), the hero of Game Three, had 13 points plus 6 rebounds and was named Most Valuable Player of the play-offs.

Now it's only party in the city of Koeln!

Il tabellino completo.

Edited June 7, 2006 by Il_Cinghiale