The work began on Monday morning and the job was demanding, but fulfilling in the literal sense of the word: in the end, three large trucks left the Audi Dome, each full to bursting with the donations in kind that the fans of the Bayern Basketball team had handed in on Sunday before the BBL game against Bamberg (83-62) for those affected by the war in Ukraine. Employees of the FCBB Office loaded the mountains of urgently needed sleeping bags, sleeping mats, bandages and first aid kits, which are now being distributed to refugees and crisis areas via the Munich-based "Gesellschaft für Integration und Kultur in Europa e.V." and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Parish Community of Munich.
THE FC BAYERN BASKETBALL WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR OVERWHELMING WILLINGNESS TO HELP!
Meanwhile, the team is rushing from appointment to appointment, traveling to the Rhineland as early as Monday afternoon. On Tuesday evening, the Telekom Baskets of Bonn will play the top duel between the league leader and its first rival. For the FCBB it is the fourth game within a week. The game kicks off at 20:30 on Tuesday, with MagentaSport broadcasting live as usual.
"Of course, this is currently the top game and the fourth in seven days for us," said co-coach Demond Greene, describing the challenging task; the former international will again deputize for Andrea Trinchieri in Bonn. "Bonn will be highly motivated, as they recently won an important game against Crailsheim and we also beat them clearly in the first matchup. We don't have all the options in terms of personnel at the moment, as is well known. But I hope that we can build on the good second half from the Bamberg game and the energy level despite the high pace of play."
Baskets-Top scorer Jackson-Cartwright
Like Bayern - to whom the return of Paul Zipser has noticeably lent an additional euphoria in the midst of a difficult situation - the Bonners are also going into the game with a tailwind, a 101-96 final score against Crailsheim. A good 3,400 fans followed the duel in the hall and 3,600 spectators are permitted for the game on Tuesday. In Karsten Tadda and Javontae Hawkins, two players who were absent in the first matchup due to quarantine measures will also be playing for Bonn. While Tadda is always a factor with his strong defense, forward Hawkins set a new personal best with 25 points in Saturday's win against his former club Crailsheim.
The record for points scored by Bonn, however, is held by someone else: point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright took advantage of the frustration after his team's 100-81 defeat in the Audi Dome in January and poured in 40 points for Bamberg the following week - a BBL season record at the time and a sign that the small-boned point guard must be controlled. With 18.9 points and 7.5 assists on average, the 26-year-old is one of the best offensive players in the entire league.
This makes him a perfect fit for Tuomas Ilsalo's system: Under the Finnish coach, the Baskets deliver the highest offensive output of all teams in the BBL with 88.4 points per game. With 32.4 three-point attempts per game, the Baskets take the second most deep shots and also grab 14.1 offensive rebounds on average. In recent weeks, however, there have been ups and downs in terms of results as the Bonn team won five of its last ten games.