Almost three months ago, the Fraport Skyliners Juniors and Dresden Titans met in a clash in Frankfurt that the home team barely won 90-86. If someone had told Eric Detlev that these two teams would meet again in the semi-finals of the playoffs, he probably would have been a bit reserved and remained conservative and came up with a witty remark, but probably wouldn´t have thought that it could be possible. Dresden had just dismissed their coach and brought in fire man Steven Clauss who had had the same duty a season ago not only saving the Hebeisen White Wings Hanau from the Regionaliga, but bringing them into the playoffs. So with that history a known fact, having a Clauss on board in Dresden was the best thing that ever could have happened. Since that nail bitter in Frankfurt, the Dresden Titans have become the little darlings of the pro B together with the Giants Nordlingen as it collected nine wins out of their last 10 including two do or die wins against Rostock, the team Clauss bowed out to last season with Hanau in a bitter three game series and then just dismantled top Pro B south team BG Karlsruhe as if it was second nature. Dresden hasn´t just done it with top point guard Randall Holt and work horse David Sturner under the glass, but with a 12 man rotation where every German has their defined role and have gotten extreme support from Phillip Lieser, Walter Simon and Daniel Krause. Clauss has been able to install team togetherness for 40 minutes no matter what and kept their offense consistent as it has never scored below 80 points since his arrival at the start of 2016. Dresden and Clauss now were seeking revenge against the Fraport Skyliners Juniors who had won both battles in the regular season by a combined score of only eight points. Clauss was back in his old living room where he used to work together with Murat Didin back in the day and now was in upset mode again as the Fraport Skyliners Juniors were next on the menu, but like in February got a rude welcome home as his team battled for 40 minutes, but had to duel without key players David Sturner and Walter Simon while Frankfurt had their star ensemble on board and Niklas Kiel in beast mode. The Fraport Skyliners Juniors were never really threatened as they played a strong game for 40 minutes and got some extra motivation watching the A team dismantle Oldenburg the night before. “It´s always nice to watch the BBL team and you can learn by watching so when we come out we try to do what they did. As a rookie I try to suck up as much as possible. We had a good first quarter, but got too comfortable in the second quarter. We came out in the second half and executed better and moved the ball better. Richter and Kiel had a strong second half and Tim Oldenburg also stepped up. It is always nice when you have that kind of support from the big men”, stressed Alaska native and Fraport Skyliner Junior Travis Thompson. The Dresden Titans fought well for 40 minutes, but it was clear that there was an obvious class difference with the personnel on the court. “The Fraport Skyliners Juniors clearly deserved to win this game. There is always that borderline between how many mistakes you can make. Frankfurt defended well and played smart offense and we didn´t have that. We had some chances, but we didn´t finish well on transition”, stressed Dresden Titans head coach Steven Clauss.

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