The Bayern Basketball team opens its next six-games-in-eleven-days madness on Tuesday night (20:30 / live on Magenta Sport) against the Telekom Baskets from Bonn. Munich (third place, 36-8 points) is aiming for its fifth win in a row to keep the league leaders in sight. The Rhinelanders (eleventh, 16-26) missed a chance to get themselves back in the conversation for one of the last playoff spots in Saturday's 86-82 loss to Bamberg.
Bayern and Bonn face each other for the 20th time where the FCBB currently lead all time 12-7.
FCBB guard Nick Weiler-Babb, 25, was supposed to meet his older brother Chris Babb, 31 on the court for the first time ever on Tuesday. "We have never played against each other, because age-wise we were always too far apart, maybe once very early outside one against one ", told Nick, the younger, on Monday morning.
It was all planned to happen but a few hours later, after Monday's practice, Nick got some bad news from Chris. "He's out, he's just coming out of the MRI," he reported after the shower, "he injured his shoulder against Bamberg. What bad timing."
Nick was already MVP of a EuroLeague gameday
Nick Weiler-Babb moved from Ludwigsburg to Munich this summer, signing for two years. He has thus also debuted in the EuroLeague and was MVP of one gameday . Chris Babb, under contract in Ulm from 2015 to 2017, now returned to Germany after engagements in Russia, Turkey and Greece. "The last time we saw each other was in Texas in the summer," . Chris owns a home in Arlington, where they both went to high school. There's one more thing they have in common as they both played for the Iowa State Cyclones.
Foto: Chris Babb, der ältere der Babb-Brüder und Bonns Topscorer, muss für Dienstag passen. (c) Michael Schwartz
Der Jüngere gegen den Älteren, „zu dem ich natürlich immer aufgeschaut habe“, dieses direkte Duell hätte es am Dienstagabend bestimmt mal gegeben. Denn beide sind Shooting Guards und messen 1,96 Meter, wobei sich Chris Babb (16,2 PpS, Dreier-Quote 35 %) offenkundig eher als Distanz-Schütze versteht; er wirft im Schnitt neunmal von jenseits der 6,75-Meter-Linie. Nick ist mehr Allrounder (12 PpS, 4,1 RpS, 3,5 ApS), Coach Andrea Trinchieri betraut ihn auch immer wieder mit dem Ballvortrag und gibt ihm mit Abstand die meiste BBL-Einsatzzeit: 28:31 Minuten pro Spiel.
Die Eltern daheim können die Spiele ihrer Söhne nicht sehen, meistens arbeiten sie, erzählt Nick, „und leider funktionieren die deutschen Übertragungen dort auch nicht“. Sie sind inzwischen wieder nach Kansas zurückgezogen, wo Chris einst zur Welt kam. Der Dad betreibt ein Restaurant, aber nicht mehr jenes nahe Dallas mit dem schönen Brüderschriftzug „Babb Bros BBQ“ auf dem Dach.
Photo: Chris Babb, the older of the Babb brothers and Bonn's top scorer, has to pass for Tuesday. (c) Michael Schwartz
The younger one against the older one, "who I've always looked up to, of course", this direct duel should definitely have happened on Tuesday night. Both are shooting guards and measure 6ft4 though Chris Babb (16.2 ppg, three-point 35%) obviously sees himself more as a distance shooter; he shoot on average nine times from beyond the arc. Nick is more of an all-rounder (12 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.5 apg), coach Andrea Trinchieri also entrusts him with controlling the floor and gives him by far the most BBL playing time: 28:31 minutes per game.
The parents at home can not see the games of their sons due to work "and unfortunately the German broadcasts do not work there either". They have since moved back to Kansas, where Chris was born. Their dad runs a restaurant, but no longer the one near Dallas with the beautiful brother's lettering "Babb Bros BBQ" on the roof.