The Eisbären coach knows that his team has to play much better than it did in the heavy 71:91 home defeat against the Lions Karlsruhe. “We defended well against Karlsruhe in the first half, but not in the second. We have to maintain our quality in defense longer as a team and individually,” says Key.
Even if the Dragons “only” have 82.6 points per game and thus take tenth place in the ProA offensive ranking, the third-placed player from Quakenbrück has a whole range of dangerous scorers. William Christmas (15.7 points on average), DeVondre Perry (14) and Marko Bacak (11.4) deliver good numbers. Playmaker Damian Milstead, who was only signed in February, has a double-digit haul. Key’s colleague Patrick Flomo has a deep squad, in which ex-polar bear Jannes Hundt contributes 7.1 points and 2.4 assists to success as point guard.
Switching distinguishes the Artland Dragons
The Quakenbrücker are disciplined on the defensive and thus win a lot of balls, which in turn lead to fast breaks. Before the first leg, which the Dragons won 88-69 in Bremerhaven, Key warned that the northern rivals were the strongest ProA team this season in transition, i.e. when switching from defense to attack. The Eisbären coach sees no reason to move away from this verdict: “There is a reason why they are in third place.” In order not to let the Dragons get going, his team has to keep the number of ball losses low, many rebounds and don’t rush to complete their attacks.
However, Key trusts his team that they will solve it better than in the first leg at the beginning of November – at that time the polar bears were missing two ball handlers in Lennard Larysz and Simon Krajcovic. So it’s a good sign that the polar bears will go to Quakenbrück without any personnel problems. Key assumes a northern derby on an equal footing: “If you look at our injury problems this season, we should actually be more than four wins behind the Dragons.”
Quakenbrück wants to go to the BBL Cup
Unlike the Polar Bears, the Dragons have already secured their place in the playoffs, but are now targeting a different goal – a top-six finish will see them qualify for next season’s BBL Cup. “The Bremerhaveners have had an eventful season so far. They changed a few things during the season, which is why I’m expecting a completely different game than in the first leg. In addition to new recruits, they now also play more aggressive defense, which makes the game very interesting. Bremerhaven is always a difficult opponent, but first we have to focus on ourselves,” says Dragons trainer Flomo.
Great atmosphere in the Artland Arena
With an average of 2,050 spectators, the Dragons took fourth place behind Rasta Vechta, Phoenix Hagen and WWU Baskets Münster. The Artland Arena will turn into a cauldron again today. The polar bears are happy too. “It’s more fun when there’s a mood in the hall,” says Key.
