Champion ratiopharm Ulm appropriately opened the new season of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) with a win. Coach Anton Gavel’s team prevailed in the opening duel against the Chemnitz 99ers with 90:85 (51:42). Ulm’s best thrower was Karim Jallow with 16 points.
“I think you can be reasonably satisfied after a win,” said captain Thomas Klepeisz at Dyn: “We had some pretty good phases. And, as is usual at the beginning of the season, there were also some slumps with a lot of mistakes and coordination difficulties.” This is also part of the game at the beginning of a season and needs to be improved.
Before the game started, the championship banner was pulled under the hall ceiling and the trophy was presented to the fans again. “It is now also important for us that the talk of the championship is finally over and that we focus completely on the new season,” said Gavel at Dyn.
His team certainly had problems with the courageous Saxons, who reached the quarter-finals of the play-offs last season. Chemnitz came within three points in the final minute of the game, but Ulm took the win.
World champions join later
In the first game of the season, none of the twelve German world champions were on the floor. Johannes Thiemann and Alba Berlin start on Thursday, the three Munich players Andreas Obst, Niels Giffey and Isaac Bonga start on Friday.
The favorite to win the championship is FC Bayern, who strengthened themselves this summer with former NBA champion Serge Ibaka.