Seventh victory in a row: It’s going well for the polar bears and Marvin Heckel (right). (Sven Peter/Hansepixx)
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Bremerhaven. The Eisbären Bremerhaven still have to play two games, on Wednesday evening in Trier and on the next Saturday against Heidelberg, then the main round in the 2nd Pro A basketball league ends – regardless of the fact that not all teams have played their full game by then due to the Corona Will have completed 28 games. In terms of sport, the Eisbären have long since qualified for the changed play-off format in the form of a group phase with two four teams, now it’s about “staying in rhythm and finding us as a team”, says Bremerhaven’s managing director Nils Ruttmann.
The polar bears have recently succeeded in doing both. On Easter Sunday, head coach Michael Mai’s team prevailed against Uni Baskets Paderborn with 91:66 (43:40) and celebrated their seventh victory in a row. The hosts only laid the foundation for this in the second half. Coach Mai was therefore satisfied with the result, but, as in the previous games, criticized the lack of consistency of his team. “We definitely underestimated Paderborn in the first half,” said Michael Mai. “We weren’t focused and consistent enough defensively, but we improved significantly in the second half. It was a good touchstone for us on the way to the playoffs. “
And that is precisely what the US-American is all about, who is still under contract in Bremerhaven as head coach and sports director until the summer of 2022. For the first time in a decade, the long-standing first division team will play play-offs again, “I’m very happy about it,” says Nils Ruttmann. And after the play-offs had to be canceled last year due to Corona, Coach Mai and his men would like to present themselves in the best possible way this time. Maneuvering is out of the question for last year’s runner-up.
After the main round, the top eight form two groups of four (1st, 4th, 5 and 8th place as well as 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th place), but speculating on who will occupy which place and who could be a possible opponent is prohibited, emphasizes Ruttmann. “We just look at ourselves and want to take our good form with us into the play-offs.” The form of the polar bears, who had to do without their three-man specialist Josh Braun due to an injury against Paderborn, has recently increased significantly. The squad, which was significantly strengthened after the departure of John Bohannon, Noah Allen and Marcel Keßen, initially with returnees Armani Moore and shortly before the transfer deadline in February, with the experienced center Will Daniels, is getting better and better together from game to game. The polar bears now have a great quality and, above all, a high level of performance in the team. “We’re making progress, the performance barometer is pointing in the right direction,” says Nils Ruttmann. The managing director emphasizes that the two follow-up commitments were not just financial hackneyed pieces. Both transfers were feasible within the calculated budget.
Talks with the shareholders
The Eisbären Bremerhaven are also concerned with feasibility these days with regard to a possible return to the basketball Bundesliga BBL. From a sporting point of view, the first place in the two groups of four are qualified for the BBL after the return leg and also determine the Pro-A-Champion 2021 in a direct comparison. Economically, there are still other hurdles to overcome. As a reminder: Due to legacy burdens of 650,000 euros, Bremerhaven had not received a license for the First League in May 2019, in the previous year, when they were athletically qualified, the polar bears withdrew their license application for the BBL because they could not prove positive equity could.
Now it is again a matter of weighing up costs, risks and opportunities. Time is running out. The application period ends on April 15th, by then the polar bears must have submitted their license application for the BBL. “We are in the hot phase,” says Nils Ruttmann, referring to the discussions with the shareholders. The decision should be made shortly.
Eisbären Bremerhaven: Friederici (28), Davis (16), Daniels (11), Moore (10), Yebo (9), Ugrai (6), Heckel (3), Kindzeka (3), Kruhl (3), Pölking ( 2), Hoppe, Heiken.
Down to business
The game of polar bears against Karlsruhe is canceled
The main round in Pro A ends as planned on April 10th – although not all games in the 2nd Bundesliga can be played by then. A team that has achieved the same number of rating points with a lower number of games will be placed higher in the final table according to the rules of the game. Most recently, Jena and Karlsruhe were affected by officially ordered quarantine measures after corona cases, a total of seven lots had to be discontinued. Since it is no longer possible to catch up on all open games, the sporting relevance for the play-offs was taken into account when selecting the games still to be played. No new date has been found for the game of Eisbären Bremerhaven against Karlsruhe.
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