Frank Robinson is 26 year old 193cm guard that was born in Compton, California and grew up in Los Angeles. He played at Cal Fullerton (NCAA) from 2005-2008. In his senior year, he played games: 15.8ppg, 6.9rpg, 2.5apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 45.1%, 3Pts: 34.2%, FT: 73.8%. In 2008-2009, he started with NBA club Atlanta Hawks (NBA), left in Oct.’08, then moved to Union Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia-Liga UPC, starting five): Adriatic League: 17 games: 4.5ppg, 1.5rpg, 1.1spg; Euroleague: 8 games: 6.8ppg, 3.3rpg, in Feb.’09 signed at EnBW Ludwigsburg (Germany-1.Bundesliga, starting five): 11 games: 11.0ppg, 4.9rpg, 1.4apg, 1.3spg, FGP: 53.2%, 3PT: 27.0%, FT: 73.5%. Last season, he started with the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) again, only pre-season, in Dec.’09 moved to Los Angeles D-Fenders (D-League, starting five): 38 games: 12.4ppg, 4.1rpg, 3.7apg, 1.9spg, FGP: 49.8%, 3PT: 24.3%, FT: 69.2%. Last summer, he played NBA Summer League in Las Vegas (LA Lakers). This season, he is playing for Maccabi Haifa (Israel-Premier League) and spoke to German Hoops after the 54-53 Eurochallenge victory against The Deutsche Bank Skyliners.

Tuesday’s game vs. Frankfurt had to be one of the ugliest game I have ever been apart of. Anytime both teams combine for 2-34 from 3=point land something has to be wrong. None the less we came out with the victory and it is some good news we needed not only for our team but for the city of Haifa during this difficult time.

How has the fire situation been in the last days? How difficult was it concentrating on the game despite the events in the past days?

The fire situation is still very fresh in the minds of our city, although the fire was put out earlier this week do to all the help Israel recieved from various countries including Cyprus, Spain, Russia etc. The lives lost in the fire will make it tough to move on for a very long time. Anyttime you are dealing with something like this of course it is hard to play but we came in as one unit and pulled off a very important win, not only to hopefully help us advance in Eurochallenge but for our team morale. We ended a pretty bad losing streak with that win.

How much changed was the style of play of The Deutsche Bank Skyliners without Roger Powell? How did they adjust?

Bucknor is a really physical player and he can also hit the outside shot although he didnt make many he hit one of the only two for 3-pointers for the entire game. He sets hard screens and helped get their shooters open. Fortunately for us they werent making shots. Powell was more of a scorer but in my opinion Bucknor is a great replacement due to his injury.

It was a very lowscoring first quarter. Was it more nervousness or just both teams getting into a defensive battle early

I wouldnt say it was nervousness. I also wouldnt say that it was great defense. Dont get me wrong we both played very hard but both teams also depend on the 3-point shot and when that is not falling for us it clogs the lane and makes it difficult to score. So in a way it was the defense but not as much as it was both teams not making wide open 3-pointers

Maccabi Haifa had the slim 29-27 lead at halftime. How good did your dunk feel at the end of the second quarter?

Yesterday was the worst shooting day of my career personally. 0-6 from 3pointers and 0-2 from the free throw line. A one in a lifetime event lol. So getting that dunk kinda help me loosin up a little bit. It was a great team defensive sequence that led to a controlled break and two points for us.

The score was 43-43 after 30 minutes. Frankfurt had a 7-0 run in the quarter sparked by Dashaun Wood. Why couldnt Maccabi Haifa clamp down in the last minutes?

I honestly dont remember that run but with a player like Dashaun you almost have to expect a run or two during the game, luckily for us it was only 7 points. Our focus was to force him to score because we know he wants to get others involved.On this day it worked in our advantage. Even tough he scored 12points in a low scoring game like this its a big deal.

The Deutsche Bank Skyliners lost the game in bitter fashion as Maurius Nolte missed both free throws and Landesberg won the game with a free throw. As a basketball player do you feel for a player in a situation like that missing key free throws? Did you ever lose a game with free throws?

Of course you feel for that player. We actuallly just lost a tough league game due to Ashdod to a miss free throw but you bounce back and you have to forget about it the next day. Sylven put us on his back and carried us the whole second half. I was and am very happy for his performances the few games it is something tha our team needs in order to win. Last night without his performance we definately do not win that game. He has matured a lot the last month or so and it is showing by how he is playing.

What was your impression of Marius Nolte? He was able to keep big Marco Killingsworth to little points?

He is a player that works hard and does a lot of things for that team, but he was not the reason Marco didnt score that much. Marco didnt play in the first half and only half of the second. When you sit out a half of a game its hard to get a rythm. When he did play he came in an adjusted to what we were doing that helped us build the lead in the first half so scoring for him was not as important as his prescence on the court.

Boris Rothbart looks very intimidating with his beard. What makes him already such a good player at age 24?

He is really skilled and still is learning how to play the five position. Sky is the limit with Boris and I think he has the ability to reach all of his potential.

Will The Deutsche Bank Skyliners be able to make the next round despite their 1-3 record in the Eurochallenge?

Im not sure how the they choose who advances and who doesnt. If they go by wins and losses i dont see how they can advance.

What current movie would you like to see?

Billiyard, its a movie about a young buisness man from Pasadena who created a multi billion dollar company and than he started to build facilities all over the world that help kids and young adults reach their dreams. The facilites were like mini universities that involved teaching and a lot of hard work for these youth to perfect and work on their various crafts. Its a (pre) documentary about his life and things he plans on doing in the next 10 years. Im actually watching it right now.  Pretty interesting

Thanks Frank for the chat.