Baskets want to take revenge in a farewell game

“We really didn’t look good there.” Says Denis Wucherer about what the basketball players from s.Oliver Würzburg experienced in preparation against the Bundesliga guest on Sunday. It’s been six weeks since the baskets were wiped off in the finals of a tournament in Rostock as they have not been in the recent past. At that time, the Hamburg Towers won 100: 63, and Baskets trainer Wucherer said before they see each other on Sunday afternoon: “We can show how much we have learned.”

Respect speaks in his voice when he talks about the Northern Lights, which “play with tremendous intensity”. And who – as a climber last season – were not allowed to take part in the cup competition. The Hamburg team won their only competitive game in this young round at the season opener against Bamberg 78:75, with a particularly strong turn in the final section. Just as a reminder: In the cup game, the Würzburg Bamberg lost 68:89. According to the saying, “New game, new luck”, which is popular not only among athletes, this does not necessarily mean that the worst must be feared – nevertheless: The roles of favorite and outsider are clearly assigned before the meeting.

The Würzburgers celebrate reunion with two alumni. The fate of the Hamburgers and the entire professional basketball project in the Hanseatic city is managed by managing director Marvin Willoughby, who began his professional career on the Main in 1998 as a “young wild” and until 2002 wore the basket bib. And the American Kameron Taylor is an important pillar in the system of Hamburg’s new trainer Pedro Calles, who learned at Alba Berlin under the Spanish trainer legend Aíto García Reneses and has caused Vechta’s soaring in recent years.

The then Würzburg coach Dirk Bauermann freed the 26-year-old Taylor from the lowlands of the German leagues and gave him the chance to show his skills in the premium class for almost half a year. What he did extensively in Würzburg and then again after a year-long trip to Hungary in Bamberg until the end of last season. Without wanting to step on the tiptoe of the Würzburg players too badly – Taylor would certainly do the current Baskets squad very well, but is now moving in salary categories that are rather unaffordable for Würzburg conditions.

So, before Sunday, the Würzburg team will have to gain self-confidence from the first competitive win of this season in Vechta. Wucherer describes the performance as “a good step”, although the 47-year-old also recognized: “In analyzing the game, we quickly noticed what we had done wrong. It was enough against Vechta that day – against other teams it’s probably not enough. ” His captain Felix Hoffmann, who injected the team with an energy that it had just missed recently, was therefore given an extra praise from the opposing coach and was one of the decisive factors for the success, believes “that the victory was extremely important for the team, but also the environment “. That “took the pressure off a little, but of course that doesn’t mean we can sit back. On the contrary.”