Telekom Baskets Bonn Sounding the horn for the final

Ludwigsburg · "One day, one day, one day it will happen, and we will see the new German champion at the Old Town Hall!" The Baskets fans celebrate their team and the final late at night with dancing and fireworks. Tickets for the first two games against Ulm on Friday and Sunday go on sale on Monday afternoon.

Final! The Baskets celebrate their 3-0 win in the semi-final series against Ludwigsburg with the 400 fans who travelled with them.

Final! The Baskets celebrate their 3-0 win in the semi-final series against Ludwigsburg with the 400 fans who travelled with them.

Foto: Eibner-Pressefoto/Sandy Dinkelacker

Josh King wanted to send the Telekom Baskets "barefoot through hell." That's what the MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg coach had announced in the tabloids. Yes, there was fire. As expected, on the field - and in the end also in the Ludwigsburg night sky. With a small firework display and chants, the Baskets fans celebrated their team’s entry into the final of the German basketball championship at the team bus outside the hall.

Confetti fluttered through the balmy air; the fans stood on walls and fences and surrounded the players. Tyson Ward shouted "humba" into his megaphone and the fans joined in with täterä (the German version of oom pah!) And everyone danced and hopped.

It was shortly before midnight when fans new favourite song, "Eines Tages, eines Tages, eines Tages wird's gescheh'n, und wir werden am Alten Rathaus den neuen deutschen Meister seh'n!" (One day, one day, one day it will happen, and we will see the new German champion at the Old Town Hall!) sounded for the last time this evening. It's a song of longing that they now dare to belt out in a chest-thumping tone of conviction. Including those who experienced the last final in 2009. The white bus with the inscription "Champions League winners 2022/23" and the play-off motto "Bonn to be wild" drove away sounding its horn.

2000 spectators at open-air screening

"Ludwigsburg pushed us hard in this series, made us look old at times and demanded our best," said Baskets’ head coach Tuomas Iisalo. "Today's game was not the prettiest as both teams did everything they could to win. The experience of this season helped us, because it could well have gone the other way. We're happy that we could end the series now and we'll now try to recuperate as best we can and get as many players fit again as possible."

As well as the 400 Bonn fans on site, some 2000 spectators watched the hard-earned entry into the final on a big screen at the Telekom Forum in Beuel, and celebrated just as enthusiastically. Only one person had to cheer alone: Team captain Karsten Tadda, who had to undergo a minor operation on his back on Friday, had to watch the game from his sickbed.

But Baskets sports manager Daniel Seffern had the seasoned player on his mobile phone immediately after the end of the game, handed it over to the team and TJ Shorts took the boss to the celebrations with the Bonn fans. They were cheerful and they also took a stand against sexism with banners after Ludwigsburg's Will Cherry had supported an Instagram post claiming referee Anne Panther was not competent to judge a physical man's game.

A tough game that was nail-biting in places

After winning 82-73 in semi-final game three, Tadda's teammates had also "swept" MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg 3-0 in the quarterfinals after Chemnitz and will face ratiopharm Ulm in the final series from Friday (8.30pm, Telekom Dome). For a long time, it was a tough, in parts sticky game, which some players ended early. The referees had plenty to do.

Right from the start, the Ludwigsburg team demonstrated that they were not yet ready for their summer break. Baskets head coach Iisalo again had to do without Collin Malcolm, Jeremy Morgan was back in the starting line-up. As expected, the atmosphere was heated after the first two games. Bonn went ahead, Cherry brought the lead back to the Ludwigsburg side with two threes in a row - not without giving Iisalo a cheeky look.

The Baskets' threes were rather sparse, but Javontae Hawkins ended the first quarter with a successful one at 18:17. A Bonn 9:0 run forced King to call a quick time-out (12th). Shortly afterwards, groups stood together again and discussed: Yorman Polas Bartolo had undercut Hawkins, who hit the floor hard. Ludwigsburg forced Bonn to lose the ball and forced Iisalo to take a time-out with a 7:0 run. Immediately afterwards, Mike Kessens was blocked, and Prentiss Hubb stuffed the counterattack into the basket for the 26:26 equaliser.

The Giants could not pull away. However, the Baskets also found it difficult to put distance between themselves and the home side. With only one point advantage (36:35), they went into the second half, Iisalo might have had some suggestions for improvement. The game continued in the style of the first half. Physical play, tricky scenes, close score. At one point, Polas Bartolo had to pass injured, and later Cherry had to leave the field with two unsporting fouls after he had run under Deane Williams and then had a disagreement with Kratzer - but Ludwigsburg kept biting their way through the game.

Gradually, however, it was the Baskets who prevailed with patience and the knowledge that they had always found a way to win in the last 24 BBL games. The 50:50 balls became more and more prey for the Baskets, Ludwigsburg rarely answered successfully. When Hubb also had to leave the field after a disqualifying foul against Shorts, the last real offensive power of Josh King's team had dried up.

Tickets for both home games that start the series against Ulm (Friday, 8.30pm and Sunday, 6pm) go on sale on Monday at 12pm.

Original text: Tanja Schneider

Translation: Jean Lennox

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