Alexander Lagerman (202-SG-2004) is a 20 year old 202cm shooting guard playing his first season with Pro B team Dragons Rhondorf averaging 8,4ppg, 2,7rpg and 1,0apg. Last season he played with the wiha Panthers Schwenningen (ProB) playing16 games averaging 15.1ppg, 4.9rpg, 1.2apg, FGP: 61.6%, 3PT: 27.1%, FT: 72.7%. He began his basketball career with the Fraport Skyliners in the JBBL (U-16) and also played 4 Pro B games and in 2022-2023 season in the NBBL averaged :21.2ppg, 6.2rpg, 1.8apg, FGP: 54.2%, 3PT: 31.3%, FT: 78.3%. He spoke to germanhoops.com after the game 2 loss against Leverkusen ending the season.

Thanks Alex for talking to germanhoops.com The Dragons Rhondorf suffered a tough 73-62 loss to Leverkusen to end the season. How tough was it for you to have the season end?

Definitely takes some adjusting and getting used to the off-season lifestyle. It’s always tough losing but it wasn’t very surprising given the fact that we were the definite underdog

You may not have known this. But the 2 coaches of Leverkusen Mike Koch and Hansi Gnad are German basketball legends that won the 1993 European championships. What did it mean playing in front of 2 legends like that?

Not that much to be honest. Once I get on the court I try to just focus on the game and not pay too much attention to who is watching besides maybe my family/friends.

The team was without Kelvin Omojola in the Leverkusen series. Do you feel like Kelvin Omojola could have been the difference especially in game 2 to tie series?

Yes Kelvin is a big time player in the Pro B and not having had him definitely hurt us a lot. I can’t guarantee that it would’ve changed the outcome but it would’ve definitely impacted our team performance in a positive way

The second quarter was incredible. What was it like for you being part of that? How much fun was it taking part in that? It was the best defensive quarter of the season.

Great fun. We started to flow and play well on both ends. Unfortunately it didn’t sustain throughout the whole game, in particular the 2nd half.

It was the best defensive quarter of the season. What was it defensively besides the flying around that helped the Dragons be successful?

I believe the defensive gameplan shook them up in the first half, especially with their Bigs not being the best decision makers. We made it hard for them to get easy baskets in that quarter

It was more than flying around wasn´t it? Did every Dragon have their own space ship?That is what it felt like? It seemed like the Dragons knew exactly where the ball was going?

That is a funny analogy but we were definitely moving around a lot on the defensive end. We knew we had to in order to stand a chance.

What did head coach Marko Zarkovic tell the team at halftime to do for the second half?

Just some in game adjustments, but no change in strategy.

In the third quarter came the dreaded 18-0 run. How tough was it to watch that? Why wasn´t the defense working on Dennis Heinzmann anymore? He scored 5 buckets in the third quarter?

I guess they adjusted to our defense and we started to lack and not execute the defensive gameplan as we did to start out the game. It was very frustrating to lose control of the game.

Leverkusen didn´t really defend any better in the third quarter, except maybe being more aggressive. It was more on the Dragons? Why did it seem like the Dragons was a bit half hearted? Did the team lose faith in their abilities?

Its hard to say what caused that shift in momentum. I believe eventually we did lose ourselves a bit, and we were also struggling to make crucial shots while getting scored on.

The Dragons never gave up and trailed only by 3 points after 3 quarters. Did Leverkusen wear down the Dragons in the fourth quarter?

More so mentally than physically by outplaying us.

Still the Dragons gave all they had in their last home game. How proud were you of the team and how they played?

We stepped up from the fist game in Leverkusen and it was a pretty close game all along so that is something to recognize.

Thanks Alex for the chat.