It wasn´t all to long ago where the Fraport Skyliners couldn´t buy themselves a win as who could forget the second half of the 2013-2014 season where the 2004 Beko BBL champion seemed to grow this nasty phobia that they were unable to win games in crunch time as their reluctance to pull out close battles in that time was about as unlikely as any sane basketball fan now to doubt the possibility of Durant and Westbrook of achieving the upset of the Golden State Warriors. However in the last two years, the Fraport Skyliners have had a steady progress and development in the players play and team chemistry that has put the team into a viable position to reach the Beko BBL final again something they last did in 2010. What the club has produced in the last two months has been extraordinary as they have constructed a 12 game winning streak in the Beko BBL, brought home the Fiba Europe Cup title and swept the helpless and caged Alba Berlin who wanted to fly, fly, fly away, but instead were stopped by the bars in their nest penitentiary. If someone had boldly predicted before the season that Frankfurt would sweep and totally lock down the Alba Berlin offense to an average of 65 points in the three game series, one would have declared you as crazy. The Fraport Skyliners may have been idle for almost a week, but were able to stich up their walking wounded and rest while ratiopharm Ulm had to recuperate faster from their exciting 3-1 series win against the EWE Baskets Oldenburg were the last three games were decided by a combined total of nine points. Some may have been thinking, if one can sweep the mighty Alba Berlin then why not ratiopharm Ulm? Ratiopharm Ulm entered the Fraport arena with a very strong roster and with their heart and soul diminutive German national player Per Guenther who is their motor and their own Godzilla Raymar Morgan who had not been a beast in the Oldenburg series, but a super beast averaging 24 points and nine rebounds in the four game series. Ratiopharm Ulm wanted to steal the Frankfurt home court advantage on the road and did shocking the Fraport Skyliners in game one 90-86 in OT as they were the first team in five and a half months to depart the Fraport arena with a win. It was a first in many areas for fans and players to bear as the Fraport Skyliners couldn´t execute and hit open shots as if they were on the beach and missed the water and played defense as if it was the first day of training camp as their Skyliner brand of basketball was nonexistent. Fraport Skyliner American Jordan Theodore who enjoys to take over in crunch time couldn´t get the job done in OT and was the first to point a finger at himself. “I didn´t play well at all. I have to play better and will in game two. We didn´t execute on offense and just got beat over and over on defense. In the playoffs, you need to play with a lot of intensity, but we didn´t. We weren´t ready to play. I give a lot of credit to Ulm for getting the win. We lost the game in the first half”, explained Englewood, New Jersey native Jordan Theodore. One may have thought, that ratiopharm Ulm may be more fatigued after the hard four game series against the EWE Baskets Oldenburg, but they were ready to play from the jump and just played an overall solid game and were the first team in months to have scouted correctly in making so much so difficult for Frankfurt. “We played hard tonight. We knew that Frankfurt does a great job with their high low play with Voigtmann and Barthel and I felt we did a good job taking that away. On offense we did a good job executing despite Frankfurt keying in on me and not letting me get more shots”, stated ex Boston Celtics shooting guard Chris Babb.
BBL
The Miles Basketball Minute: 2016 Beko BBL Semi-final Playoff Preview: Fraport Skyliners-ratiopharm Ulm 3-0
It is sometimes bizarre how two seemingly similar occurrences happened at the same time almost one year apart with two new players coming on board to their respective teams and being dominant right away and being the central figures in the complete turnaround of the teams. Back in November of 2014, the Fraport Skyliners had started the season 3-7 and were totally underachieving, but had severe injury woes to battle. Fraport Skyliners head coach Gordon Herbert had little choice, but to get another point guard for the injured Richard Williams and hauled in Justin Cobbs who was a much traveled rookie in his first two months having been shortly with 2016 Euroleague finalist Laboral Kutxa Vitoria (Spain-Liga Endesa), was the last cut of the NBA Charlotte Hornets and also briefly played with VEF Riga before coming to Frankfurt. Cobbs had the magic touch and instantly helped the team to winning six of eight games and turned around the season leading the team into the Eurochallenge final four and from last into the playoffs where the club bowed out to FC Bayern Munich. In Ulm the same kind of scenario surfaced this season as the club was battling intense injuries and head coach Thorsten Leibenath responded by bringing in ex NBA player Chris Babb who played at Iowa State(NCAA) with ex Ulm forward Will Clyburn and played 14 NBA games with the Boston Celtics. After being cut by the Golden State Warriors, Babb was available and like Cobbs last season snatched up in November. Like Frankfurt last season, ratiopharm Ulm got off the wrong side of the bed and started the season with a pathetic 2-7 record until November 21st where the Babb came on board and the Ulm season turned around rapidly as the club commenced to win 13 of their next 14 games putting them into great position to reach the playoffs. Babb had some huge games this season like his 29 points game in the 91-72 victory against FC Bayern Munich where he dropped seven three pointers or his huge scoring contributions in the wins against Braunschweig with 20 points and 21 points against the Giessen 46ers. Despite having played against the big boys of the NBA, the humbleness of Babb is as refreshing as the massive intense playoff spark that American Raymar Morgan has given the team. “I think that after we won our first few games, it was an overall confidence thing that helped the team in the winning streak. Guys started to fall into their roles and we learned what it took to win games”, stressed Chris Babb. Babb is still searching for his first professional title and already has gone a step further than Cobbs last season by reaching the Beko BBL semi-finals. However now Babb has the biggest challenge of the season trying to get past the Fraport Skyliners which has been an extreme difficult task for most teams. Even if Fraport Skyliner Jordan Theodore has won his first professional title this season, he is as hungry to win a second and will be a big hurdle to overcome for Babb and co.
The Fraport Skyliners Sweep Alba Berlin With A Shade Of Theodore Pink 87-66
For some Skyliner fans it may seem like an eternity since the last time the Fraport Skyliners defeated the mighty 8 time Beko BBL champion Alba Berlin in a five game series, but really it has only been six years ago where they produced the masterpiece that would zoom them into the Beko BBL finals. In that series, the club was led by guys like Mr ballerina Derrick Allen who had a stellar unstoppable game of 26 points to lead the way, but the club also was fortified with players like Dragon Labovic, Jimmy Mckinney and a certain shy city boy from Cincinnati, Ohio Quantez Robertson who had already made waves that season as a BBL slam dunk finalist and top notch defender that he would carry on to this very day. Six years later the Fraport Skyliners were back in their living room having Alba Berlin at the brink of elimination as everyone in the Fraport arena was broom ready and prepared to sweep head coach Sasa Obradovic and his twisted and dangerous looking body movements right out of the arena. In the first two contests, the 2000 Beko BBL cup champion Fraport Skyliners had played near to top notch basketball turning the Alba Berlin at times explosive offensive arsenal into a harmless attack that couldn´t even have scared the 2016 Fiba Europe Cup winner if they had dug out a Wendell Alexis, Marko Pesic and Mithat Demirel in their primes to help find a way to cut apart the annoying Frankfurt defense. Frankfurt held Alba Berlin to 65 points on average in the first two games and have had a sharp control on the dangerous guard duo of Jordan Taylor and Will Cherry in the playoffs like any woman would have to have on Charlie Sheen if she was seeing him. In the 71-65 game two victory in Berlin, the two American guards were held to 10 points combined 2/16 shooting. Frankfurt definitely learned from the first two encounters of the season where both Americans buried Frankfurt for 41 points combined and in the bitter semi-final cup loss in Munich let Jordan Taylor get the last laugh as he hit the game winning bucket. The week started off so excellent for the Fraport Skyliners and just got better and better as Quantez Robertson won the leagues best defensive player, a day later head coach Gordon Herbert was named best coach and nine hours later, Frankfurt was leading the best of five series 2-0 and Jordan Theodore could dream a little about the future where he may follow in the footsteps of his buddy Malcom Delaney who played in the Euroleague Final four on the weekend in Berlin. The perfect ending to the week would have been sending Alba Berlin back home winless in the playoffs and making a sweep party in the Fraport arena on Saturday night. Alba Berlin came back to Frankfurt needing to win as badly as the Fraport Skyliners needs everyone to remain healthy in order to have a legitimate chance of winning the Beko BBL title, but were blown out of the Fraport arena again as the Fraport Skyliners won easily with a shade of Theodore pink 87-66. After the glorious win and countless signed autographs that made the little hearts of kids content and whose eyes were beaming after the brief encounter with Theodore, the American had time to reflect on the win, series and his special shade of pink. “We played a lot more relaxed tonight whereas in game two we were too tight. We clicked on all cylinders moving the ball well and defending the way we know how and just got everything that we wanted. The key in this series was our good defense. We have been playing at a high level on defense all season long. Even when we struggle on offense as we did in game two, we can always rely on our defense. Our defense helps us stay in games when our offense isn´t on. Sweeping Alba Berlin means a lot because they had beat us twice this season. We knew that Alba Berlin would win the cup, because they had beat the best team us. We are on a mission right now. If we play defense and stay together, we will be fine. This was the first time I wore these pink shoes. I like to test a new pair each game. I know that some of the guys were looking strangely at me, but I may wear my strawberry pair in the next game. The pink looked nice on the court, fit well and the girls liked them”, smiled Englewood, New Jersey native Jordan Theodore. The season peak for Alba Berlin was three months ago when they won the cup in Munich, but just didn´t have that fire or self-confidence anymore and were an easy catch for the Fraport Skyliners to devour with ease. “Congrats to the Fraport Skyliers. They played very good basketball. They hit their shots very well in the first half and we didn´t do a good job using the mismatches. We never got into any kind of real game rhythm and did too much one on one play. We didn´t have the self-confidence or kick today”, stressed two time NCAA champion with Uconn Nils Giffey. “I don´t mind the pink shoes of Jordan, but it isn´t my style. But he has earned the right to wear whatever he wants to”, smiled Mr Canada Phillip Scrubb.
Chris Babb (ratiopharm Ulm) My Goal Is Obviously Always To Try To Get Back To The NBA But I Won´t Force It
Chris Babb is a 26 year old 196cm shooting guard from Arlington, Texas playing his third professional season and first with ratiopharm Ulm. He started his basketball career in 2008 with Penn St. (NCAA) playing a total of 63 NCAA games. He then moved to Iowa St. (NCAA) where he played from 2011-2013 and as a senior played 33 games: 9.1ppg, 3.4rpg, 2.2apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 47.8%, 3PT: 38.2%, FT: 74.5%. In 2013 he started his professional basketball career with the Boston Celtics (NBA) playing 14 games: 1.6ppg, 1.2rpg, also played at Maine Red Claws (D-League) playing 33 games: 12.0ppg, 6.1rpg, 3.4apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 44.1%, 3PT: 35.4%, FT: 78.8%. Last season he played for the Maine Red Claws (D-League) playing 47 games: 15.4ppg, 5.6rpg, 2.8apg, FGP: 52.2%, 3PT: 36.9%, FT: 78.3%. He spoke to German Hoops before game three against the EWE Baskets Oldenburg.
Thanks for taking some time to talk to German Hoops. Congrats on the 2-0 lead against the EWE Baskets Oldenburg. Many had Oldenburg favored, but how vital has the mindset of ratiopharm Ulm been for having the 2-0 lead?
Our mindset has been good. We had been battling injuries, but now everyone has been healthy. We just have been very focused going into the series with Oldenburg and in the first two games. We have done a good job sticking to the game plan moving the ball well and playing good defense.
Ratiopharm Ulm stole the first game in Oldenburg 90-81, but the home team played you very tough. How key was containing the paint area in game one where Oldenburg had their difficulties?
That was huge. Their big man Brian Qvale is great at finishing on the pick and roll. We did a good job as a team taking away the paint from Oldenburg. Paulding has been shooting well, but we still did a good job picking our spots and playing the best defense that we could and not let them get out on transition.
The Miles Basketball Minute:2016 Beko BBL Playoff Preview Brose Baskets Bamberg-s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg: 3-0
It wasn´t long ago where s.Oliver Baskets head coach Doug Spradley was toiling around with the Eisbaeren Bremerhaven near the end of his four year tenure where he must have had almost more nightmares than Tom Brady still has with his two lost Super Bowls against the New York Giants.In his last season with Bremerhaven, the frustration of the lack of success seemed mind boggling as like so many other times, the club had great talent and experience, but were unable to form that needed team chemistry and also not having the right mix of players seemed to leave a sour taste in his mouth as well as everyone else affiliated with the organization. In his first season, he had almost reached the Beko BBL final in 2010 losing a tough five game series to Frankfurt and three years later was about as far from a playoff spot as Wurzburg´s amazing point guard Dru Joyce is too magically getting invisible wings and being able to fly and dunk over childhood friend Lebron James on a playground in Akron, Ohio. That last season in Bremerhaven really left Spradley at a crossroad in his coaching career that he felt the need not to jump back in the shark infested Beko BBL coaching tank, but took a year off to find himself again mentally. That year off really did wonders as he returned back to the scene signing a contract with the s.Oliver baskets Wurzburg in 2014 and was back at a location where his job was too lead a team back into the Beko BBL the way he did Paderborn in 2006. He found instant success with Wurzburg in the pro A and may not have eclipsed the 50 win in a row season with Paderborn, but also easily led his team back into the Beko BBL. This season, Wurzburg and Giessen together with the Fraport Skyliners formed a trio that were the little darlings of the league. Frankfurt with their team basketball moved up to the big teams like Bamberg and FC Bayern Munich in terms of regular season success while Wurzburg and Giessen who´s season goal was too just remain the league were battling for playoff spots all season long. On the last game day, Giessen was denied, but Wurzburg clawed on to that last spot putting Spradley back into the playoffs. Now he has the most difficult task of having too perform a miracle against Euroleague top 16 team Brose Baskets Bamberg. Just having reached the playoffs is a major accomplishment for the organization and nobody expects a miracle, but one should not forget that he once led a little Paderborn squad of unknowns to almost beating the big mighty Alba Berlin in the 2009 quarterfinals probably giving Alba Berlin Marco Baldi then his first major midlife crisis. Almost anything is possible in basketball, but for Wurzburg to be able to defeat Bamberg in a 5 game series or even win two games is about as unlikely as Dirk Nowitzki dressing up for his Bavarian home team in the series.
The Miles Basketball Minute: 2016 Beko BBL Playoff Preview: EWE Baskets Oldenburg-ratiopharm Ulm 3-2
Whenever May comes around in Germany, it means the first sign of warm weather, people showing off their newest shades in the café´s, men drooling again at the sight of mini-skirts moving with the motion of the cool spring breeze and family´s doing bike trips on the weekends when the spring weather is nice. On the basketball side, it is time again for the Beko BBL playoffs and one player that seems to have an almost guarantee pass to the being able to battle for that coveted title is Mr Oldenburg Rickey Paulding who has been their eight out of nine seasons since his arrival to Oldenburg in 2007. However in those eight attempts, he has only been able to win one title which was in 2009 as the EWE Baskets Oldenburg beat the Telekom Baskets Bonn in one of the more memorable final´s series in the history of the Beko BBL. Paulding and co were close a few years back reaching the final and despite being swept by the Brose Baskets Bamberg lost the three game series with only a combined seven points. Paulding isn´t getting any younger at age 33, but he still plays like a 27 year old and seems like his body is ageless as he still looks as fresh on the floor like a young buck belonging to the top 5 perimeter players in the Beko BBL as his consistency over the years with age has been commendable. Especially at age 33, every new playoffs experience has to be of big worth for the ex Missouri(NCAA) player as he doesn´t know if it might be his last. It is never good to look ahead, but the American probably has realized that there could be a possible semi-final date with the Fraport Skyliners, a team that not only he wants to seek revenge on, but also his teammates. This season, the Fraport Skyliners won a do or die game in January for the ticket to the Beko BBL cup final 4 in Munich and recently were easily disposed of in Frankfurt as they couldn´t find a remedy to stop their lethal ball movement. Two facts riding on the side of Paulding who can compete with the best American smiles in the Beko BBL when he displays his wide grin and glistening white teeth, in that he beat Frankfurt back in 2009 in the quarterfinals of the playoffs and also has beat ratiopharm Ulm in the playoffs in a hard five game series . Paulding wants more after winning his second title last season with the cup on his own floor as he wants another title to make him a tad more immortal in Oldenburg even if achieving it this season will be a difficult task with the competition level, but not many expected it in 2009 either.
The Fraport Skyliners Crush Alba Berlin 83-64 to take 1-0 Playoff Lead
The few days after the Fraport Skyliners had won the 2016 Fiba Europe Cup title in Chalon France over Italian team Varese last weekend, the club had numerous appointments and honors to accept while savoring the moment. The biggest honor was being able to step out on the slim balcony at city hall in Frankfurt and see the sea of fans down below cheering on the team. Following official business where each player was able to sign the golden book, the team then went into the basement and celebrated with the fans with the beautiful silver Fiba Europe cup sitting on a small table for each person that wanted to to get a photo. Even if head coach Gordon Herbert seemed relaxed during the party with the fans, you knew that as much as he allowed his players to indulge in this big moment of being only the fourth team in the history of German basketball to have won an international club tournament, he was also thinking ahead to the weekend where the Beko BBl playoffs were to start. How often Herbert questioned in his mind during the two days of celebrating if his team could get back down in time of the playoffs was unknown, but knowing the immense competitive and perfectionist mindset, he must have been playing mind games with every type of scenario that could face him in game one. One guy who was as happy as a kid that just cleaned out a candy store after icing the title in Chalon was Englewood, New Jersey native Jordan Theodore who definitely showed after the final win that he has had his share of party experiences back home. However two days after the win, one could sense that he was getting itchy to get back on the court and take care of the next order of business the playoffs. With Frankfurt having had extra days to party, it was Alba Berlin that took part in a special training camp and still had that loss in Berlin on their minds a few weeks ago. The intense playoff rivalry that Berlin and Frankfurt took center stage as Alba Berlin won the last playoff battle in 2011 winning in 5 games in Frankfurt, but this season´s series had an extra appetizer with the duel of the two Jordan´s. Both Jordan Theodore and Jordan Taylor who belong to the top point guards in the Beko BBL as the latter had a 2-1 record head to head this season, but the Taylor still had semi bragging rights over Theodore as he had won the last minute shooting battle in the cup semi-final in Munich propelling Alba Berlin to the final while Frankfurt had to wait for that next opportunity while Theodore got him back a few weeks ago in Berlin with a 80-63 win to even the head to head battle at 2-1. In their fourth head to head meeting, it was Theodore that got the best of Taylor as he led the Fraport Skyliners with 19 points past Alba Berlin 83-64 as Alba Berlin and Taylor had massive difficulty all night long coming to terms with the Frankfurt aggressive defense. Important for the Fraport Skyliners was that the club was able to get down from their Fiba Europe Cup title and get back to business with the Mission Beko BBL title 2016. “We got revenge on Alba Berlin a few weeks ago, but Taylor has the cup trophy. Coach preached this week that we have to stay professional. The last thing that we wanted to do was serve up an egg in game one. We had fun for two days and on Wednesday we were focused at the task at hand. We knew that it would be a tough game. Alba Berlin is a gritty team that plays physical, gets rebounds and loose balls. We were ready for them and left it all on the court. I was focused 100% and since it´s my first playoffs, I want to show the people that I can play. Every guy contributed and when we play as a collective unit then we are hard to beat”, stressed Fraport Skyliners guard Jordan Theodore. Alba Berlin will have to go back to the drawing board, because if they don´t find a way to score more consistently then their summer could already start next weekend. “Frankfurt hit a lot of shots and there wasn´t a lot that we could do. We didn´t get consistent stops on defense. They wanted it more than we did”, stressed Alba Berlin guard Rob Lowery.
The Miles Basketball Minute: 2016 Beko BBL Playoff Preview: FC Bayern Munich-MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg 3-1
Can three be a charm this season for head coach John Patrick and the MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg? It really doesn´t matter where MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg head coach John Patrick has coached in the last nine years in Germany, whatever team he was in charge of, he made better a feat which isn´t necessarily self-evident. With BG Goettingen, he made a second division team into a genuine Beko BBL team that made the playoffs on a regular basis and crowned his existence there with the 2010 Eurchallenge win. In all his time there, he had lesser known players and NCAA players that he groomed and one into a Euroleague player with Taylor Rochestie. He also discovered current Fraport Skyliner John Little and brought him to Goettingen as a rookie and today is the only player to have won two German international club titles. Next he moved to Bavaria and coached the s.Oliver Baskets Wurzburg which was a huge project at the time made it into another playoff team that defeated top team Alba Berlin in the 2011 playoffs and gave him in a short time legendary status. His possibly biggest challenge was saving the MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in the 2012-2013 season keeping them in the Beko BBL coming in as a fireman and then in the last two years forming playoff teams that annoyed FC Bayern Munich and the Brose Baskets Bamberg. With Ludwigsburg, the experienced coach has had the best talent ever far eclipsing what he had to work with in Goettingen and Wurzburg the last two seasons as having an NBA player on the floor at all times like with Coby Karl, DJ Kennedy and Mustafa Shakur was about as typical in any game as seeing Jon Brockman hauling down an offensive rebound with his undeniable physicality. However in the last two seasons, the club just didn´t have that extra piece to the puzzle to get over the hump against FC Bayern Munich losing 3-1 in the quarterfinals two years ago and last year being swept by the Brose Baskets Bamberg, but playing them tough losing by eight points twice and once with five points. Now Patrick and co have that rematch again with FC Bayern Munich that at times are like night and day as they can stink up the arena and lose to a poor team like the Mitteldeutscher BC and on the next game manhandle the Brose Baskets Bamberg. Ludwigsburg played FC Bayern Munich very tough two seasons ago and Patrick surely can still remember that series where they had to replay a game. Can the MHP Riesen seek revenge and make the upset this season with the personal and character on the team?
Jordan Taylor (Alba Berlin) Nobody Expects Us To Win Except Us So I Feel Like We Don´t Have Pressure Going Into The Frankfurt Series
Jordan Taylor is a 26 year old 187cm point guard from Bloomington, Minnesota playing his forth professional season and first with Alba Berlin. He started his basketball career at Wisconsin(NCAA) in 2008 where he played until 2012 reaching two NCAA Sweet 16´s and played a total of 136 NCAA games. As a senior he played 36 games averaging 14.8ppg, 3.8rpg, 4.1apg, 1.0spg, FGP: 42.6%, 3PT: 36.9%, FT: 78.5%. He started his professional career in 2012 with Virtus Roma (Italy-SerieA) where he played until 2014. Last season he played with Hapoel Holon (Israel-Winner League) playing 37 games: 14.4ppg, 2.9rpg, 4.8apg, Steals-4(1.9spg), FGP: 42.6%, 3PT: 37.0%, FT: 73.9%. He won the 2016 Beko BBL cup title with Alba Berlin earlier this season and spoke with German Hoops before game one against the Fraport Skyliners in Frankfurt.
Thanks Jordan for taking some time to talk to German Hoops. When you look out your hotel room does the skyline of Frankfurt remind you a bit of Bloomington, Minnesota?
Yes a little bit.
If someone had told you before the season started that two Jordan´s you and Jordan Theodore would already have a title combined before the start of the playoffs what would you have thought?
I wouldn´t have thought to much about it so early in the season. But then again he and I have very big expectations to always want to win. I have known Jordan since he was 13, so us having won two titles already hasn´t been so much a surprise.
The Miles Basketball Minute: 2016 Beko BBL Quarterfinal Playoff Preview Fraport Skyliners-Alba Berlin 3-0
It isn´t always easy to shift gears going from one extreme to the other, but some teams have that ability to go from being at the top to having to refocus and get mentally ready for the next task at hand. A team like the Brose Baskets Bamberg for a time a few years ago were able to win cup and league titles in the same season with ease the way Fraport Skyliner MIke Morrison can erupt in the paint area with dunks like a lost Lion from the Tampa, Florida Zoo does when his evening meal is a few minutes late. From a span from 2009-2012 the Brose Baskets Bamberg were able to accomplish this feat with bravery winning the double league and cup and always being able to hold that unbelievable hungriness that you only see with top teams. The Fraport Skyliners don´t have that club history like Bamberg has as it took them 12 years to win that next title after their last one in 2004, whereas Bamberg has won 10 titles in that span which could make even the most calm Freak city fan a bit full. However with the Fraport Skyliners just having won the 2016 Fiba Europe Cup title in Chalon, France over Italian team Varese, they didn´t have a few months to recover and then have to play the playoffs, but actually had only 6 days to get off their momentary peak and be ready to be plucking mode as next on the menu are the Albatross bird or otherwise known as top team Alba Berlin. Of course when a team like the Fraport Skyliners have fought and played a superb season in the Fiba cup Europe Cup where they went 18-1, it is only normal that they celebrate with style. Celebrating the high class way started with the normal post game clowning around with the trophy and medals and Frankfurt might have even started a new trend with posing the selfie´s not only with the hardware, but also being caught in the netting of the rim the way a flounder is in a fiserman´s net off the coast of Cape Cod. The partying went on in the the night until morning where it continued with the train ride home where the last thing that was on anybody´s mind at that juncture was how to control Jordan Taylor the following weekend. Upon arrival in Frankfurt, the team had a gathering at a local TV station in the evening where they could tell for the 100th time what it felt like to have won an international title. The next day followed further team appointments and an official party at night with the fans where they all met and marched to city hall together. After two days of doing the title rounds, Fraport Skyliners head coach Gordon Herbert had the first scheduled practice on tap for Wednesday giving the team three days to prepare for the very hungry Alba Berlin team that had scheduled a short training camp during the time where Frankfurt was telling stories how they wrote history while a Jordan Taylor might have been studying film on how to control a Jordan Theodore when he makes his almost unstoppable speeding to the rim. The question is now can the Fraport Skyliners be able to get back to the basketball office again on the ground instead of being in basketball heaven sipping champagne from the Fiba Europe Cup trophy? If Gordon Herbert needed advice, he probably could have dialed up Chris Fleming in Denver or Jordan Theodore who seems to know every living basketball player or at least someone who knows a guy that could give him the number of ex Bamberg guard Casey Jacobsen in Phoenix. At least these two Bamberg legends should be able to give the guiding words for them How to refocus successfully again.
