The OPEL SKYLINERS were far from their level that they had showed against Bonn two weeks ago. Frankfurt will have to keep dreaming about a second cup win after 2000. Even though Bonn will not be in the playoffs, they showed that they were of playoff calibur today. "We have waited three months for a performance like this. We were quick and very concentrated and our defense was superb", expressed the very happy mananger Jochen Luksch of the Telekom Baskets Bonn. Bonn will face Rhein Energie Colonge in the final, who had defeated Ludwigsburg earlier in the day.
Most of the game was controlled by the Telekom Baskets Bonn. The OPEL SKYLINERS had led a comeback in the fourth quarter. Spyro Panteliadis had cut the lead to 83-81 and had one last free throw. Frankfurt needed the ball back with 2 seconds, so Panteliadis missed the shot, hoping for a rebound, but Altron DR DUNK Jackson hauled down the rebound and sealed the victory for Bonn. However, the game was decided in the first quarter. "They had a great start and built on their confidence. They had nothing to lose and it´s never easy to come back into the game when an opponent has so much momentum", described a sad Jukka Matinen. Bonn already had a 22 to 7 lead after seven minutes. "We missed too many open three pointers, at one point four in a row. Usually, we make one or two out of four. We also missed too many free throws. We could not control Nadjfeji or Jackson. If we had hit more of our shots early on, then I think we could have won this game", analysed assistant coach Simon Cote. The OPEL SKYLINERS kept fighting back, but Bonn was simply too strong. Everytime Frankfurt got close, Bonn would hit a three pointer. The comeback took a lot of energy and in the end Frankfurt ran out of gas.
The OPEL SKYLINERS were led by American Chris Williams, who continues to play like he is from another planet. The Alabama native scored 29 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out four assists and made four steals. Kavossy Franklin had 11 points and had four steals. Captain Pascal Roller had a difficult day, scoring 11 points (4/11 from the field), Spyro Panteliadis contributed 10 points. Center Malick Badiane continued to play with a lot of effort. He scored nine points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots. Assistant coach Simon Cote still thinks that the centers need to play better. "Badiane did some good things. However, Bonn´s big guys scored too much. You need to have a body on Nadjfeji at all times. It is a lot of grunt work. We will need to do a better job of preventing the opponents big guys from getting the ball in the post in the future."
The other center Bernd Kruel played 16 minutes, scoring four points and getting five rebounds. "We let Bonn score more than 80 points, that is too much. If we keep our opponent to 60 points, we win. We need to play better and more aggressive defense", commented Bernd Kruel.
The Telekom Baskets Bonn were led by Aleksander Nadjfeji, who scored 21 points and grabbed five rebounds. American Altron Jackson had a strong game, scoring 19 points and dominating the boards, getting 13 rebounds. Branko Milisavljevic had a quiet day, scoring 13 points and dishing out seven assists. Peter Huber-Saffer also had 13 points. Kristaps Janicenoks was the unsung hero from Bonn. "Janicenoks played great in 40 minutes of play and contained Roller" , said Bonn manager Jochen Luksch. The OPEL SKYLINERS shot only 44 % from the field and that was a result of the Bonn defense. "This was the best defense we have played in the last 15 games. We did not let up once for more than half a minute in this game. We also did not let Frankfurt get any easy points", analysed Bonn´s manager Jochen Luksch.
The OPEL SKYLINERS now play for third place instead of for the cup. Even though this game is only for third place, Frankfurt will take this game very seriously. "We want to beat Ludwigsburg badly. We lost twice to them this season. We will be able to work on certain things in this game and we want to win the game for our fans", noted captain Pascal Roller. Finnish forward Jukka Matinen added that Frankfurt does not want to lose a third game in a row. "We want to win this game and go into the playoffs with a winning attitude." The OPEL SKYLINERS face off against Ludwigsburg on Sunday, May 8 at 14:30. Bonn manager Luksch added that the OPEL SKYLINERS should not sulk to long about the loss to Bonn. "The OPEL SKYLINERS will regroup and I´m sure they will have strong playoffs." The OPEL SKYLINERS start defending their 2004 BBL title on Sunday, May 15th at 15:00 against the Artland Dragons in the Ballsporthalle in Höchst.
Miles Schmidt-Scheuber reporting for the OPEL SKYLINERS
