The best time of the year is here and the Bayern Basketball team starts the postseason as the three seed. Their opponent in the quarterfinals is BG Goettingen, the sixth seed, all rounds are played in best-of-five (2-2-1) mode.
Schedule
The series starts with two home games at the Audi Dome: on Tuesday, May 16 (20:30), and two days later, on Ascension Day, May 18 (18:00). Game 3 will take place in Goettingen on Sunday (15:00), with a fourth game also there on the following Tuesday when necessary (May 25, 19:00).
In the event of a fifth game, the FCBB would have home rights on Thursday, May 27 (19:00).
- Bonn (1.) – Chemnitz (8.)
- Berlin (2.) – Ulm (7.)
- Bayern (3.) - Goettingen (6.)
- Oldenburg (4.) – Ludwigsburg (5.)
The playoff quarterfinal matchups at a glance
The squad
Bayern finished third in the regular season and go into the playoffs without captain Vladimir Lucic (hand), Othello Hunter (disc) and Augustine Rubit. Andi Obst now leads the team as captain, and was quoted as saying: "That already weakens us a lot, it's three leading players. We're missing a lot of experience and also quality because of that - nevertheless, we have enough class to win the title."
The opponent
BG Goettingen is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012. The team of coach Roel Moors missed the possible jump to fifth place (and thus the Lower Saxony duel vs Oldenburg) due to an 898-82 home loss in the last game against relegated Frankfurt.
Nevertheless, a 19-15 record is a high point for the team who have almost identical stats as the FCBB after the regular season. The two-point percentages of 54.9 (FCBB) and 54.8 (BG) are similar, as are the values from distance (35.9/FCBB and 35.6%), with both teams taking around 27 threes per game.
In terms of field goal percentage, they are exactly level with each other at 46.5 percent.
The FCBB should have advantages in the paint with 36.6 rebounds (BG: 33.4).
The club
BG returned to the BBL in 2007 and, after relegation in 2012, made a comeback in 2014. However, basketball has a great tradition in the university town: In 1980, the predecessor club SSC - with Holger Geschwindner and under coach Terry Schofield, among others - secured the title for the first time with a 68-63 win over TuS 04 Leverkusen.
Two more championships followed (now as merged ASC 46) in 1983 and 1984 (among others with Wilbert Olinde, Mike Jackel) as well as the cup victories in 1984 and 1985.
Due to financial problems, the team gave back its license in 1988 and was relegated to the regional league. Meanwhile, BG has a fine training center and the Belgian coach Moors has kept the team very far from the relegation zone in his second year.
Player to watch
BG guard Mark Smith is only 23 and is one of the best scorers in the BBL in his rookie season, averaging 16.7 points and adding 7.1 rebounds to his stat sheet. The American had his finest hour with 33 points in the 96-95 home win over the then undefeated Alba Berlin.
"Illinois Mr. Basketball" of 2017 is the go-to guy for the Lower Saxons. (c) Pahnke
Smith comes from a basketball family - both his mother and father played on college teams - but he is obviously versatile: In high school, his path as a baseball pitcher at Missouri was actually in the works before the youngster, who was considered an MLB prospect, switched to the orange ball.
The former "Illinois Mr. Basketball" (2017) went on to Goettingen via the universities of Illinois, Missouri and most recently Kansas State.
The history
The Bavarians have a 17-4 record in 21 competitive games with BG so far. The most recent one was a 83-75 loss on the third-to-last game when the visitors had to do without Lucic, Rubit and Hunter as well as Harris, Walden, Winston and Wimberg. The first matchup at the end of January went clearly 105-74 to the Bavarians.