Difficult game for Strasbourg at Telekom Bonn
The quarter-finals of the Basketball Champions League will write another page in the history book of Franco-German duels. The Telekom Dome will host the first match in the Best of Three series between Bonn and Strasbourg Wednesday, 5 April.
Bonn has had an exceptional season, they occupy the first position in the BBL, they have 17 consecutive victories in all competitions and they won Group J of the round of 16 without defeat, passing Bahcesehir, Rytas and Manresa. These are also the reasons why almost every match played at Telekom Dome is sold out. In the Basketball Champions League as an average, the team is 2nd in ppg with 84.8, 3rd in rebounds with 38.4 and 6th in assists with 19.1. Finn Delany (11.0 ppg) was absent in the last 2 matches due to an injury and Jeremy Morgan (12.2 ppg) suffers from a long-term injury. In their absence, the MVP of the Month December T.J. Shorts plays phenomenally with 18.6 ppg, 7.5 ast and 4.1 reb. Javontae Hawkins in the 3 BCL games since his arrival has 15.7 ppg and he is really helpful for Shorts and the team.
Strasbourg qualified from Group I of the round of 16 from second place with 4 wins and 2 defeats, the group also included another team from France: Dijon and 2 from Israel: Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Holon. They did not dominate the competition in any important category, they had 82.6 points (7), 35.8 rebounds (10), and 18.7 assists (9). The team leaders in the absence of Matt Mitchell (20.2 ppg) injured a few months ago are Keene 17.6 ppg, Lansdowne 13.3 ppg and Kurucs 12.6 ppg. Luca Banchi’s team is not in the best form with 4 consecutive defeats, the last being the most painful 95-85 against Ada Blois, at the end of which Banchi gave a statement that said everything about that evening “I am like everyone else tonight, shocked. I did not expect this kind of performance. First of all, I would like to apologize to our supporters as well as to the whole club and the people who work there.”
Wednesday’s match will offer us 2 options: the first in which both teams will continue their streaks and the second in which both will end their streaks. It seems hard to believe that Strasbourg will be able to break the streak of 17 consecutive victories of the Germans right at the Telekom Dome.
Valentin Petruta
Photo credit: Basketball Champions League
