Derby at the start of the year ???? NINERS Chemnitz in the easycredit Basketball Bundesliga

SYNTAINICS MBC

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Jan12022

Chemnitz receives Weißenfels.

Not even 40 hours have passed in the new year, as Saxony’s best basketball players are already playing the next highlight game in the easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga. On Sunday the NINERS Chemnitz will receive the SYNTAINICS MBC for the prestigious East Derby. Last season, the team of coach Rodrigo Pastore won both duels against the opponents from Weißenfels in Saxony-Anhalt, only 100 kilometers away (H 96:79, A 86:84) and would of course like to continue that series. It is hoped that newcomer Eric Washington will provide important support. A sentence has not yet been announced by the league, which makes the use of the 2.10-meter giant likely. “We have to prepare for both constellations,” Pastore knows anyway.

In addition, the Chemnitz team’s focus is primarily on their own game and the necessary energy, which the NINERS have not always been able to call up consistently in the last few games, especially due to their injury problems. In the meantime, however, with Frantz Massenat, Isiaha Mike and Ivan Karacic, three key top performers have returned to gaming operations, while Eric Washington, whose approval has now arrived from France, is another option. Nelson Weidemann is also well on the way to recovery two months after his broken wrist, but will probably need another two to three weeks to be really ready for action again. “Our formation has changed a lot over the last month or two, which also affects the teamwork. That’s why we hope for a little more consistency so that the team can find their way around and play better, ”says Pastore, hoping that his top performers will be spared prolonged absences in 2022.

The next opponent Weißenfels did not come through the season so far completely carefree. Shooting guard Jakub Garbacz (11.9 points per game) asked to return to his Polish home club Stal Ostrow in December. Leon Friederici (1.5) moved in the same month with the hope of a better perspective to league competitor Heidelberg and other top performers such as Behnam Yakchali (10.0), Johannes Richter (4.9), Radii Caisin (3.3) and Sergio Kerusch (3.2) sometimes had to fit with minor wounds. In return, the former German U20 national player Kostja Mushidi joined the team a few weeks ago and, with 12.8 points per game, immediately joined the ranks of the most important Weißenfels supports around top scorer Jamel Morris (17.4), Nikola Rebic (12.6), Chris Coffey ( 11.5) and Gorans Huskic (11.5), behind whose use, as mentioned above, there is still a small question mark.

“The MBC has a lot of offensive potential,” says Pastore about the throwing strength of the guests, which helps them to average 84 points per 40 minutes of playing time. On the other hand, the Weißenfelser allow 91 points in the same period – more than any other team in the easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga. Chemnitz could capitalize on this on Sunday and stay in close contact with the coveted play-off places with the third derby win in Germany’s top division.

DEADLINE:NINERS Chemnitz vs. SYNTAINICS MBC, Sunday, January 2nd, 2022, 3 p.m., Chemnitz Exhibition Center

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