Frankfurt Skyliners satisfied after defeat by Bayern
Dhe game was only a few moments over when Joshua Obiesie and Nick Weiler-Babb stood together on the halfway line and chatted about days spent together at Bayern Munich. The two like each other, Weiler-Babb was a mentor to Obiesie when he was still playing basketball in Munich. That evening, Weiler-Babb, who recently won bronze with the German national team at the European Championships, should have congratulated his young friend in the Frankfurt jersey on his impressive performance.
In his first Skyliners home game, Obiesie shaped the fast-paced final phase of this basketball game between two teams so unequal. With just under a minute and a half to play, the 22-year-old Skyliners point guard kicked in at the free-throw line and sunk two shots to the din of 5,002 spectators. It had been a long time since the Frankfurt Ball Sports Hall had trembled so much, an uplifting feeling, as Obiesie later said.
“We showed character”
It’s 74:79. The Frankfurters had been behind since the first quarter, at times even by 25 points, against the mighty Bayern, who didn’t even exhaust their strength. But shortly before the end they came within striking distance and the equalizer seemed possible. It’s not enough for that, but Bayern were very lucky.
Laurynas Beliauskas missed an open three, a foul against Tez Robertson shouldn’t have been called, and the subsequent free throws from Munich sealed the 74:83. After the overtime defeat against Bayreuth, Frankfurt also lost their second game of the Bundesliga season, but won the hall. Nothing more was to be expected.
Coach Geert Hammink sees it similarly. He acknowledged that Bayern, the first Euroleague team he coached, have different horizons than the Skyliners. But he had also seen that his team came up trumps when Munich took it easy. Especially in front of the three-point line, his team defended well in the last quarter, although they had some problems behind them.
The statistics confirmed the appearance, with a total of 22 defensive rebounds, the Skyliners came up with just one less than Bayern. “In the end, in addition to basketball skills, we also showed character,” said Hammink.
Andrea Trinchieri saw that too. His side’s laxity didn’t have the potential to spoil the Bayern coach’s evening, but it did put him out a little. As his men shot out an increasingly clear gap in the second and third quarters, they said they’d become “arrogant” if they’d only respected the Skyliners for 27 minutes, not 40. He then created a striking Trinchieri phrase: “I can’t kill anyone today, I.” I’d like to do it.” No wink was necessary.
Waiting for victory
The Skyliners are likely to emerge from this game because they gave their fans an experience and got a little rush in the final quarter. Obiesie steered the Frankfurt game in an impressive way during this phase. He kept the passing pace high, especially on the fast break, provided the most assists (six) and was the Skyliners’ top pitcher with 15 points. He was only nervous before the game, on the field it was just fun to play against “my boys”, the former teammates from Munich.
Hammink said that Obiesie would be a lot of fun in Frankfurt. “He made a single step today, not so much in terms of basketball technique, but mentally.” An important and above all due step for the team would now be the first win of the season.
The Skyliners will only play against Braunschweig at home again on October 30th, before that there are away games in Heidelberg and Weißenfels. All opponents who have more the collar size of Frankfurt. The first points are needed to gild the performance against Bayreuth and Bayern.