2006 BBL Playoff Quarterfinals

[Trifilli]

The first games are gonna be played on Sunday, here are all matchups and the schedule:

1st vs 8th: Alba Berlin vs EWE Baskets Oldenburg

Game 1: Monday - May 1st 2006 - Berlin
Game 2: Thursday - May 4th 2006 - Oldenburg
Game 3: Sunday - May 7th 2006 - Berlin
Game 4: Tuesday - May 9th 2006 - Oldenburg *
Game 5: Thursday - May 11th 2006 - Berlin *

* if neccessary

Berlin will miss sharpshooter Mike Penberthy in this series (and most likely the entire Playoffs) but showed that the team is in great shape at the Top4, winning the Cup and beating Bamberg twice in a week. Oldenburg on the other hand is pretty much out of shape lately, dropped to 8th place in the end of the season and it'd be quite a surprise if Berlin had difficulties winning this series.

2nd vs 7th: GHP Bamberg vs Telekom Baskets Bonn

Game 1: Sunday - April 30th 2006 - Bamberg
Game 2: Thursday - May 4th 2006 - Bonn
Game 3: Sunday - May 7th 2006 - Bamberg
Game 4: Tuesday - May 9th 2006 - Bonn *
Game 5: Thursday - May 11th 2006 - Bamberg *

Like robbe already mentioned in the news thread Bamberg will miss Demond Mallet for months because of a serious knee injury. In addition to that the defending champions don't seem to be in their best shape atm, losing twice in a week against Berlin and not winning the Cup at home. Bonn on the other hand qualified to the Playoffs at the very last day, I saw the team in the beginning of the season and it wasn't impressive at all (rather the opposite) but it seems that they improved a lot during the season and are in a pretty good shape now. Still, Bamberg has more quality and a deeper bench and I'd be surprised if they lost more than 1 game in this series - it's no easy matchup though.

3rd vs 6th: Rhein Energie Cologne vs EnBW Ludwigsburg

Game 1: Sunday - April 30th 2006 - Cologne
Game 2: Thursday - May 4th 2006 - Ludwigsburg
Game 3: Sunday - May 7th 2006 - Cologne
Game 4: Tuesday - May 9th 2006 - Ludwigsburg *
Game 5: Thursday - May 11th 2006 - Cologne *

Ludwigsburg is a weird team - whenever I see them they play bad ball - and still they made the Playoffs in 6th place. Cologne played pretty much like expected before this season, they have some good players, play decent defense and good team basketball (sounds like Coach Sasa Obradovic, doesn't it? ). Overall I'd expect Cologne to advance to the next round without problems - I must admit though that I didn't see Ludwigsburg too often, so they might surprise me.

4th vs 5th: Eisbären Bremerhaven vs Artland Dragons

Game 1: Sunday - April 30th 2006 - Bremerhaven
Game 2: Thursday - May 4th 2006 - Quakenbrück
Game 3: Sunday - May 7th 2006 - Bremerhaven
Game 4: Tuesday - May 9th 2006 - Quakenbrück *
Game 5: Thursday - May 11th 2006 - Bremerhaven *

Two underdogs from the North playing against each other in a playoff derby - definately the most interesting matchup for the first round. Bremerhaven is the surprise of the season, being new in the BBL and already reaching 4th place. The team relies on a strong starting 5, especially on Center Darren Fenn and on Guard Brian Jones - while the bench isn't that strong . On the other hand Artland (name of the region, the team is actually from the small town of Quakenbrück) has a bit deeper bench and 7 players average double digits in ppg. The team started bad into the season and therefore won't have homecourt advantage now but improved a lot during the season and is no outsider imo. Artland has playoff experience (lost in 5 games vs Frankfurt in the Quarterfinals last season), something that might be the key in this series. Imo both teams can advance and I expect a close series but the experience might help Artland to win it in the end.

[robbe]

I'd agree with Trifilli in almost every way.

ALBA Berlin should have no problems with struggling Oldenburg. Yes, Mike Penberthy will not be available, but I'm still unsure whether this is a gain or a loss for them. He's a great shooter and will hit from everywhere when he's on fire, but defensively he is very unreliable and no team player at all. ALBA looked good without him and should not have any trouble with their opponents, who are running comletely out of gas. Prediction: 3-0 ALBA.

I'd agree with what you said about us, Bonn. We weren't impressive for large parts of the season, playing selfish basketball and defending badly. However, we've turned the season around in the last two games, showing great intensity that could see them snatch a win against Bamberg. Bamberg will miss Mallet, a real differencemaker who leads this very even squad, but should still be strong enough to beat Bonn. Bonn will get solid contribution from Wisniewski, Black and Meeks, but Conley(despite having a good first season) still makes too many mistakes and might struggle against this good defensive team, Perincic too often takes off-nights, and the bench is too weak. Mihailovic has developed into a thread and Kolodziejski will defend, but Janza, Tomeljak and Paravinja especially, have been disappointing throughout the season. I expect a 3-1 for Bamberg, too.

Ludwigsburg, I must agree again , has not been looking like a playoff team. Might be a hint at the leagues niveau this year. They have a good home record though, so they might get one win against Cologne. But I don't think they are capable of playing playoff basketball the whole series. Not a good defensive team. Cologne on the other hand has played well, especially in the FIBA tournament. They have the squad to go to the finals imo, will be interesting if they face, as expected, Bamberg in the semis. Nadjfeji as a great allrounder, McElroy is having a great year, plus they have the role players. Should be a 3-1 Cologne.

The fourth series looks like it's more open than the others. Bremerhaven has played good team basketball all season, having a great coach in Sakalauskas, who has even managed to translate the once selfish score-first-guard Brian Jones into a floor-general. Respect. They bench is very weak though, and they have no one, apart from Jacobson, who can hit the 3 consistently. Quakenbrück has the larger roster but has not played well this season, especially on defense. I think and hope Bremerhaven's great season will be rewarded with a semifinal series against ALBA Berlin. They'd certainly deserve it. Prediction: 3-2 Bremerhaven.

[Trifilli]

The first games have been played today and here are the results:

RheinEnergie Cologne - EnBW Ludwigsburg 94:68
Topscorers Cologne: McGowan 23pts (4rbds), Ivory 17pts
Topscorers Ludwigsburg: Goljovic 18pts, Love 9pts (4rbds)

Series 1-0 for Cologne

GHP Bamberg - Telekom Baskets Bonn 78:66
Topscorers Bamberg: Garrett 20pts (4rbds), Nelson 13pts (9rbds)
Topscorers Bonn: Wisniewski 15pts (6ast, 4rbds), Perincic 13pts (6rbds)

Series 1-0 for Bamberg

Eisbären Bremerhaven - Artland Dragons 81:76
Topscorers Bremerhaven: Fenn 21pts (5rbds), Jones 16pts (5ast, 5 TO, 3st)
Topscorers Artland: Rivera 20pts (6ast, 5rbds), Walker 17pts (8rbds)

Series 1-0 for Bremerhaven

[robbe]

Yeah, second fiddle Jason Conley will miss out until the end of the season, which is why I don't think Bonn will have a chance at all any more in this series. There's a big difference between having one of four 35-40 minutes guys injured and having one of twelve 25 minutes guys sit out...

Cologne against Ludwigsburg - as expected. Ludwigsburg can't match their intensity, especially on the road.

I'm glad Bremerhaven beat Quakenbrück. Great game by Darren Fenn, who won the battle against his matchup Darius Hall.

[Trifilli]

Yeah, second fiddle Jason Conley will miss out until the end of the season, which is why I don't think Bonn will have a chance at all any more in this series. There's a big difference between having one of four 35-40 minutes guys injured and having one of twelve 25 minutes guys sit out...

Conleys injury will indeed be a huge problem for Bonn. They just got their rebounding problem under control after signing Terry Black (7.1rpg) and now this injury...the team will really miss Conleys rebounding (whenever I see his stats - 7rpg - I'm surprised that he's a guard ). But not only the rebounding, whenever I saw Bonn this season he was the key player together with Wisniewski, great athleticism, good scorer, good defender, great rebounder, losing a player of this quality - one of their two main players - should end all hopes for Bonn, sadly.

[Trifilli]

Alba Berlin - EWE Baskets Oldenburg 102:92
Topscorers Berlin: Greene 23pts (5rbds), Stanojevic 18pts (5ast, 4rbds)
Topscorers Oldenburg: Penigar 16pts (4rbds), McCoy 14pts (7ast, 5 TO, 4rbds)

Series 1-0 for Alba Berlin

[robbe]

Oldenburg beat ALBA Berlin 80:74 behind 28 points from Tyrone "The cat" McCoy today, what a surprise. Desmond Penigar finished with 15 and 15 rebounds and Hollis Price scored 25 (on 8 for 21 shooting) for ALBA, who were expected to sweep their struggling opponents out of this series.

Quakenbrück managed to beat Bremerhaven in the northern derby 67:56, with Chad Prewitt netting 14. Darren Fenn had 14 and 6 boards for the visitors.

Cologne marched on, beating Ludwigsburg on the road, 76:84. They trailed by 6 going into the fourth quarter, but still managed to beat the hosts in front of a selloud crowd, riding on the back of Imanuell McElroy(16 points, 10 boards). Glen McGowan scored 18, Jerry Green had 23 for the home-team, who had six players in double figures.

The story of the evening however was written in Bonn, where the hosts managed to beat the defending champion in a tumultous and scandalous display: A brawl in the second quarter got 11 players disqualified, Meeks and Hamann will most probably face longer suspensions, Wisniewski and Helmanis might have to sit out a game, not sure about that. The game went on with Bonn and Bamberg playing 5 against 4. Bonn continued with Kolodziejski, Janza, Paravinja, Starks and Tomeljak, whereas the remaining Bamberg players (Nelson, Garrett, Begley, Ensminger) had the better quality, but lacked quantity.
Ensminger, Paravinja, and Coach Bauermann were ejected after a tussle late in the fourth, so it was 4 against 3 in the remaining seconds. In the end, Bonn tied the series, winning 74:65.

[robbe]

Bamberg have protested against the result, as they think the referees did not handle the incident correctly. After seeing some videos, I'm pretty sure the refs were wrong, but I don't think that will lead to the BBL repeating the game.

Still no decisions, but I think league officials will give a statement today.

[DanMajerle]

No, I was in Bonn and Pavic and Stafford were levaing the bench when they were not allowed to do so, so everything ok. Hamann, Meeks and Helmanis behaved in avery unsportsmanlike way and will have to be disciplined.

[Trifilli]

I saw a couple of videos now, too - but of course was not in the arena, so I didn't get the full picture. From what I saw Pavic definately was on the floor, so Coach Bauermann didn't say the truth when he said that Pavic stayed on the bench. Dunno about Stafford, I only saw him in front of Bonns bench.
But overall I'm not quite sure if the Refs ejected the right players. Why was Begley allowed to continue for example? Imo he was in the brawl as well.
Anyways, I don't think that Bambergs protest has any chance, maybe some wrong players were ejected but it was the Refs decision and usually the league will accept it.
Bamberg had to play 4 vs 5 for almost 3/4 of the game but all main players from Bonn were ejected while Bamberg kept its most important players on the floor and even managed to build a big lead in the beginning (heck, Bonn played with a 4th division player who never played in the BBL before).
From what I saw these guys should definately get suspensions: Meeks and Hamann (no discussion here I guess), Helmanis (big time involved as well), Ensminger (for playing theatre in the end and not leaving the floor after his 5th foul but rather going to Bonns bench) and Coach Bauermann (for his action in the end of the game - he got rightfully ejected). Don't know about the rest, I've heard that Wisniewski will most likely get a suspension as well but as I said - I only saw some videos and not all the scenes.
Either way the series is lost for Bonn, I don't see how they can win against Bamberg without Conley, Meeks and Wisniewski - unless the league suspends more than half of Bambergs team.
Btw, Bamberg is turning into the german jailblazers now, Hamann, Helmanis and Nahar (who didn't play yesterday) were convicted last year because of a bar fight in Bamberg. What a surprise to see Hamann and Helmanis as two of the main guys in yesterdays brawl Hamann must be the most stupid player ever to play in the BBL anyways...attacks a guy like Meeks who is twice as big and strong as him, gets injured in the fight and might miss the rest of the season, no matter the fine he'll get, because of the injury

[Trifilli]

Here are some pics from the brawl: (all from Bonns website: http://www.telekom-baskets-bonn.de)

Meeks gets hold of Hamann after he got tackled by Hamann from behind:


Next scene:


Some more pics:









Bonns 5 ejected player watching the rest of the game:

[german]

Here some videos for europe (all from fans)

The brawl 1
The brawl 2
Ensminger 5.foul

[PHILIPeurobasket]

Thanks for videos Good job ...

-----
Do You know what is for me shock? German fans! Any fan didint stund up! Everybody only see !!!

When in Poland Anwil play with Prokom , and one of players made brutal foul (like Jagodnik on Nagys - maybe do hear about that) on court and players fly everything

[Trifilli]

The fines and suspensions for the brawl have been announced:

Michael Meeks: 6 games suspension + 5000 Euro fine
Steffen Hamann: 4 games suspension + 3500 Euro fine
Uvis Helmanis: 3 games suspension + 2000 Euro fine
Andrew Wisniewski: 3 games suspension + 3000 Euro fine
Milos Paravinja: 1 game suspension + 1500 Euro fine
Dirk Bauermann: 3000 Euro fine


Only proves once more that Bauermann can do whatever he wants in german basketball, besides the bench players who got disqualified for entering the court he's the only one who got ejected and got no suspension...
And we know now that it's perfectly alright to receive your 5th foul, then walk over the entire court to the opposing teams bench, to provoke a bit there and "chat" with their coach, and play a bit of theatre, leading to a game suspension for one of the opponents players - Ensminger received no fine/suspension at all.
The Series is definately lost for Bonn now, there's no way that they can beat Bamberg without 3 of their main players (Wisniewski, Conley, Meeks) - and in addition to that they have no more size with Meeks and Paravinja out.

[RVS]

I don't think that Helmanis was deserve any suspension or fine!