This season the name Gloria Giants Duesseldorf sprinkles about as much fear to BEKO BBL teams as does a tank filled with tiger sharks that have been fed frequently while a person falls in accidently, Cleveland Cavalier point guard Mo Williams currently not shooting out the lights from the parking lot as he is only at 26.6% from that distance or Los Angeles Clippers center Blake Griffin entering the TD Garden in Boston and seeing his opponent Shaq dancing around on the floor with a ballerina outfit, however The Deutsche Bank Skyliners had been well aware that The Brose Baskets Bamberg had left the Burg Wachter Castello arena in Duesseldorf recently with a bitter loss and were as focused in crunch time to win as were the Pittsburg Steelers getting past the New York Jets in the AFC championship game, Jacob Burtschi of Phoenix Hagen sinking the cherished money ball as often as possible in Trier last weekend in the three point shooting contest and Salu Benjamin Tadi sweeping away the BEKO BBL players last weekend in the BEKO BBL allstar slam dunk contest in Trier as Frankfurt escaped the elegant doner palace of Turk coach Murat Didin with an exciting 68-66 come from behind win as they finished the game with a 6-0 run and back breaking buzzer beater by American Chris Moss. “We were up by two points with a minute to play, but  we missed an easy rebound and made two mistakes. This was a sin for our efforts. We deserved to win this game. We shot 43% from the free throw line against Bremerhaven and only 57% against Frankfurt. We hustled a lot, but we missed too many free throws, made too many small mistakes which disturbed our gift to win the game”, stated Gloria Giants Duesseldorf coach Murat Didin. The win was about as far from pretty as was actor Mickey Rourke in his role in the fighter, but a win is a win and Frankfurt will take it. “We have to give Duesseldorf a lot of credit. They played very well. We didnt play with a lot of energy which is unacceptable. We were lucky that we on today”, stressed Skyliner forward Chris Moss.

The Duesseldorf Giants continue to make a living in the cold and dank dark BEKO BBL cellar and with every new loss and passing week, the team seems to have less and less hope of crawling out of their hole and seeing the light of the BEKO BBL next season. The Gloria Giants Duesseldorf despite all the players that have come and gone that there are moments that they can beat any team in the BEKO BBL as Bamberg was a witness to their strong play. Frankfurt knew what was awaiting them and AJ Moye didnt even want to think about what it can be like for a player in Duesseldorf living in 18th place. “I have never really been in last place. It has to be tough, but Murat Didin has changed the complex of the team in the last 4-5 games. Duesseldorf isnt the same team as before. Turkish coaches always seem to be able to do good things. Regardless of their record, Murat has them working. This team isnt like BG Karlsruhe some years ago where there were many different coaches. Any Murat team will work hard and that is what Duesseldorf does. You have to outwork them to win. Duesseldorf had our attention tonight”, stressed ex Tuebingen forward AJ Moye. Current BEKO BBL top scorer Dashaun Wood was also impressed with the last place team. “Duesseldorf is a good team with a tough coach. They did not play like a last place team, but like a playoff team. Despite their record, each guy comes to work and does their job”, warned Skyliner Dashaun Wood. Skyliner Kimmo Muurinen got first hand experience what it was like playing for a last placed team with Napoli last year. “It is always tough mentally when you are in last place. It continues to be tough when you keep practicing, trying and losing especially on a buzzer beater”, explained Skyliner forward Kimmo Muurinen.
Two teams play intense basketball for 39 minutes and 20 seconds, but are still tied with 30 seconds to play and then a team wins with a crushing buzzer beater. Every teams nightmare is having Dashaun Wood as an opponent in this situation. Wood made seven turnovers in the game, but he was as focused and perfect on the last play as Pascal Roller usually is at the free throw line. It seemed like Frankfurt chose the right shot and Duesseldorf seemed confident with the shot. “I was looking for Moss. As the play was unfolding, I took a quick picture in my head how it would look. We isolated at the top and everyone came into the middle which left Moss open. It was the best possible shot we had. The photo I took of play was without flash and I didnt even blink”, joked Dashaun Wood. Moss was as expressionless after the buzzer beater winner as if he had just missed 10 shots in a row. “I cant really remember hitting a buzzer beater. I was just trying to help the team win. On the last play, we let Wood create and he found me open and I made the open shot”, added Chris Moss. “on the last play, Wood took some speed out of his penetration which is untypical for him and you could sense that he was looking for Moss. Moss made the shot as if it was the easiest thing to do”, laughed Skyliner center Marius Nolte. “We collapsed into the middle to get Wood which left Moss wide open. We didnt think that he would make the shot. We felt that this had been the best option on defense to stop him”, added injured Gloria Giant Olumuyiwa Famutimi. “I felt that we should of made some adjustments on defense. Wood took over the game in the second half. We should of hedged more making him give up the ball, but we didnt make the adjustments”, warned ex Paderborn Basket Steven Wright.
The Deutsche Bank Skyliners entered the game healthy while the Gloria Giants Duesseldorf had injury woes as Olumuyiwa Famutimi was in street clothes injured and wont return this season and American Jamaal Tatum also sat out. Canadian big man Ransford Brempong also wasnt 100%, but played. Murat Didin continues to have try out players working out with the team. Chris Ellis is still there as is American Ray George who played At Alabama. “George is an animal”, warned AJ Moye. Didin will have a few more new players coming in this week as the team has a two week break until the next game for him to decide who will officially wear the Giants colours. The Burg Wachter Castello arena is a small, comfortable, and smug arena which reminds one of a tiny NBA type of arena with an upper deck practically hugging the sidelines. In Frankfurt, Murat Didin had a comfortable living room in the Ballsporthalle about 2 kilometers from the river Main and in duesseldorf he is about 4 kilometers from the Rhine. Before the game started, the famous “Time of your life from the popular movie Dirty Dancing was blaring from the speakers as this might have had Didin thinking about a sweet victory over his old club Deutsche Bank Skyliners. 2,638 people wnated to see the game as the first half of the first quarter reminded one of the ugly 58-43 Frankfurt win earlier in the season as the game was sparked by error after error. Both teams had massive problem finding any type of sound rhythm. The teams traded baskets in the first minutes and had three leads as Jimmy mCkinney hit a three pointer, Muurinen a lay in on a fast break and Dashaun Wood feeding  Quantez Robertson with a perfect ally-op pass and the American dunking as if he was still in the slam dunk contest in Trier as Frankfurt led 9-7. However the Duesseldorf Giants found their rhythm quicker as they came out of their funk closing out the first quarter with a 10-0 run to lead 17-9. Steven Wright nailed two three pointers and Brempong and Wright scored on the fast break. We were nervous at teh start and our defense was not where it should have been. We let them get some easy transition buckets and they made some difficult shots as well”, stressed Kimmo Muurinen. The Gloria Giants Duesseldorf were shooting 35% from the field and 40% from outside while The Deutsche Bank Skyliners were shooting 33% from the field and 20% from outside. Duesseldorf had the huge rebounding edge at 14-8 and only three turnovers as Frankfurt had six turnovers.
The Gloria Giants Duesseldorf were not overwhelmed by their strong play and didnt see it as a fluke either as the team continued to leave off from their 10-0 closing run in the first quarter starting with a 9-2 run in the second quarter and leading 26-11. Wright continued to be the hot hand nailing a three pointer and getting a lay up on a coast to coast run and Deandre Haynes was supporting the American with a jumper and floater in the lane. Frankfurt continued to be weak under the boards and not physical on defense. However, it was only a matter of time, before The Deutsche Bank Skyliners would erupt like  along awaited volcano. Frankfurt slowly started to find their rhythm on offense as they started picking at the huge Duesseldorf lead step by step. They would end the second quarter with a damaging 21-8 run to trail Duesseldorf only 34-32. American Chris Moss started the attack with a lay in which was followed by two Mckinney bombs from downtown Duesseldoorf as Frankfurt trailed only 28-21. Frankfurt then got production from Wood and Muurinen cutting the Duesseldorf lead to 33-25. Wood nailed a three pointer down the stretch and Dominik Bahiense De Mello sunk two free throws.  “We got more defensive stops which was key. We were also scoring better”, added Kimmo Muurinen. “We fought very hard in teh second quarter. We were making our shots and I was shooting well which helped”, commented Steven Wright. The Gloria Giants Duesseldorf were shooting 42% from the field and 40% from the three point line, while The Deutsche Bank Skyliners were shooting 44% from the field and 40% from the three point line. The rebounds were deadlocked at 18 a piece as Frankfurt had outrebounded Duesseldorf 11-4 in the second quarter. Duesseldorf had seven turnovers and Frankfurt 10 turnovers.
The teams runs were reversed to start the third quarter as now it was time for The Deutsche Bank Skyliners to come out of the blocks with a stellar 9-0 run to retake the lead of the game 41-34. Frankfurt was calm on offense running their sets and getting help on defense with steals and easy buckets. Wood started the run with a three pointer, followed by a Super Tez lay in over Laimonas Kisielius. De Mello then made a heads up steal and sprinted to the basket for the dunk and Muurinen made a fade away jumper. Since the 26-11 Duesseldorf lead early in the second quarter, Frankfurt had retaliated with a 30-8 run. After it had been Wright and Haynes earlier in the game that were responsible for being much needed spark plugs, now it was Canadian Ransford Brempong who led Duesseldorf on a 6-2 run as Frankfurt led only 43-42. The Canadian made a fade away jumper, dunk and free throws. Frankfurt was unable to break away as Duesseldorf stayed on thier backs tying the game at 46-46 with a NIkita Khartchenkov catch and pop jumper. The game stayed a nail bitter in the waning minutes of the third quarter as Wood made a floater and pull up jumper for the Frankfurt 52-47 lead. However Duesseldorf followed with a 5-0 run as Khartchenkov scooped up an offensive rebound and put back and Haynes made a three pointer to knot the game at 52-52. Robertson ended the third quarter with one free throw as Frankfurt had the slim 53-52 lead after 30 minutes. “The theme of the game was streaky turnovers. Both teams showed very streaky offense in the third quarter. We did step up our toughness”, stressed Kimmo Muurinen. “We did stay close with Frankfurt, but we missed too many shots and were becoming a bit stagnant”, added Steven Wright. The Deutsche Bank Skyliners were shooting 49% from the field and 36% from the parking lot while The Gloria Giants Duesseldorf were shooting 43% from the field and 29% from the parking lot. Frankfurt was leading the rebound battle 28-24, but had 15 turnovers while Duesseldorf had 11 turnovers.
The Gloria Giants Duesseldorf had nothing to lose and were slowly feeling that an upset was in their cards as it was their turn to start the quarter with a run as they scored seven unanswered points to lead 59-53. Frankfurt started flat footed as it was Ransford Brempong that led the charge with a jumper and a mid distance jumper. He also blocked Moss attempting to dunk and would do the same trick again later stuffing Qunatez Robertson on a dunk try. Wright added a three pointer as Frankfurt was quickly in the hole 59-53. However it was Mckinney again who led the comeback charge with a timely three point bomb. It was a broken play as the ball was deflected and landed on the floor and rolled directly into the hands of the American like a lost bowling ball. Wood then made two free throws and then set up German Marius Nolte with a slick reverse lay up as Frankfurt trailed only 61-60. Duesseldorf remained having strong nerves as Haynes nailed a three pointer for the 63-60 lead. Wood then struck with a lay up with his left hand as Duesseldorf led only 63-62. Brempong then did his next good deed make a turn around shot as Duesseldorf led 65-62. Haynes then made a free throw as Frankfurt trailed 66-62 with two minutes to play. However those were the last Giants points as Frankfurt stepped up their play in crunch time finishing with a 6-0 run to win 68-66. Dashaun Wood made a finger tip roll as Frankfurt trailed 66-64. Khartchenkov then suffered a turnover and after a Wood miss, Wright took a Hurried shot which was scooped up by Frankfurt. With less than a minute, itw as ex NBA player Roger Powell who had been 0/6 in the game made a sweet mini running hook shot to tie the game at 66-66. Duesseldorf then suffered another turnover and Frankfurt went on their last offense as Moss nailed a pretty mid distance jumper from the right wing winning the game. “I was guarding Wood, and I feel to many came over to help and he dished the ball to Moss and he made the shot”, added Steven Wright. “Anytime you win on the road, it is a big thing. We kept them to 43 points in Frankfurt. They were a different team. After a 2 week layoff, I felt that we showed a lot of toughness being down by 6 in the fourth quarter. But I have to give them credit. They had a good game plan, but in the end our defensive stops won the game for us”, warned Dashaun Wood. “At the end, it was important to stay close and not let them score. We got a big stop and two offensive rebounds”, commented Kimmo Muurinen.

The Deutsche Bank Skyliners were led by Dashaun Wood with 20 points and eight assists. Jimmy Mckinney added 12 points. Kimmo Muurinen and Quantez Robertson chipped in with 10 points a piece. The Gloria Giants Duesseldorf were led by Steven Wright with 18 points. Ransford Brempong and Deandre Haynes chipped in with 17 points a piece. Even though the Gloria Giants Duesseldorf lost, it was one of their best team efforts of the season. “We played together on offense and defense. I think we did a good job taking Wood out of his game in the first half. He took control in the second half, but in general we did a fine job on him”, stressed Olumuyiwa Famutimi. Frankfurt won the rebound battle in the end, but had too many turnovers with 17. Frankfurt will next play their game of the season as they entertain The Brose Baskets Bamberg at home. The Deutsche Bank Skyliners are looking to defend their home court unbeaten streak and are looking forward to the clash against the three time BEKO BBL champion. “One always looks forward to playing the top teams in the league. We havent been playing our best basketball recently. We have to play more together and take the fight from this win and carry it over into that game and just step it up”, warned Kimmo Muurinen. Its still early and the playoffs are still in the distance, but Bamberg doesnt seem to be a run away candidate to repeat. “Frankfurt is a solid and poised team. wood is the head. When he goes the team goes. I think Frankfurt would do ok in a five game series against Bamberg”, warned Famutimi. Before Frankfurt wants to look to the playoffs, they want to even the season series with a win in the Ballsporthalle against Bamberg. AJ Moye had some very powerful words concerning his teammates after the win in Duesseldorf. “I knew the guys wouldnt quit. I am glad we dug down and got the win. We have some guys that really want to win. Some guys simply got it”, stressed AJ Moye. The Deutsche Bank Skyliners host The Brose Baskets Bamberg on February 5th at 17:05.