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Artland fondly remember their last year's battles with Brose

Last season the home team were the only ones in the league to beat the defending champions both at home and away. Their main goal today is to slow down the opponent's transition game

The schedule is definitely not on Artland's side at the start of the championship. After barely beating Alba last weekend, they had to play a difficult away game in Oldenburg, and today are facing the defending champions from Bamberg.

A few days ago, the Dragons did not have a good day vs the title runner-up. They struggled on the offense, just as they did in the first two rounds. They were 8 points behind after the first quarter, managed to come back in the second period, but the poor offense was especially present in the second half. Oldenburg rose to +16 by the end of the third quarter, and that was it. Artland scored 37% of their shots from the field, with 16 turnovers and only 10 assists in total. It was clear that they were struggling against the aggressive Oldenburg defense, the perimeter players in particular.

-We couldn't find the right rhythm. Oldenburg play one of the best defenses of the league. We tried to come back in the second half, but their defense was too strong- admitted coach Tyron McCoy.

The diminutive play David Halston scored 16 points, while shooting guard Antonio Graves (3/11) and center Anthony King (3/11) both fumbled.

Before the coming match with Brose, the one fact encouraging them is that they were the only ones in the league to beat that team last year both at home and away, and the Dragons' roster looks even better this year.

-Of course, playing against Brose is never easy... One of our key tasks will certainly be to stop their Zack Wright. He is similar to Chris Kramer in Oldenburg, a very important transition player. We have to prevent them from playing fast basketball. Other than that, we expect a step up on offense. We had very good defense in our first two home games, but did not score enough- said assistant coach Martin Schiller.

The guests from Bamberg are yet to win an official away game this year. After losing to Alba in the Supercup, they were defeated in Munich as well. Their answer came on Wednesday, in a home game vs the weak Tübingen. Only the first quarter of the match was interesting . In the second period Brose take off on a big series and reach +15 by the end of first half. Their lead was more than 20 in the third half, so the remainder of the game was pure routine.

The fact that none of their players spent more than 25 minutes on the court tells us that the champions had a really easy job. They scored only 51% of their shots, but the aggressive defense was what made the difference, forcing Tübingen to 23 turnovers, and stealing 11 more. This made up for the unexpected rebounding problem (they had 18 rebounds less than their opponents).

-We played very good defense, that was a step in the right direction. Anton Gavel was the leading man on the defensive side. He may not have been his best on the offense, but he did a great job on the defense- said coach Chris Fleming.

Gavel scored 10 points, while the best offensive player was shooting guard Jamar Smith, with 22 points scored. He was the one foreigner too many on Brose's roster vs Bayern, but that obviously motivated him against Tübingen. The above mentioned Wright put up a solid performance once again (15 points).

Their next match is an unpleasant away game, and Brose know what they need to work on most.

-In our last season matches, we failed to respond aggressively to Artland's aggressive game, on several occasions. We need more determination and more energy on the defense. We expect Artland to play a very aggressive game once again- said assistant coach Stefan Weissenböck.

Point guard John Goldsberry is expected to miss the game again today, as the one foreigner too many on the roster, while Novica Velickovic has been injured for some time now.

Brose's main task will definitely be improving their rebounding. Artland have a good presence in the paint with King (best in the league in rebounds), and can surely handle the away team's centers well. The home team will most likely try to play the best transition defense they can. If they manage to slow down Wright and Gavel, they've done a great job.

Artland proved to be a good defense oriented team. But, that impression was ruined on Wednesday against Oldenburg. They could no longer keep up in the second halftime, and realizing what is about to happen, coach McCoy decided to rest his best players in the final quarter. Artland's performance is quite different home and away. For example, Tübingen manged to score only 60 points against them in the first round, Alba only 66 in the second one. Their game got more aggressive since they've got a new coach, they have two very physically dominant centers in the key. They were the only team that managed to beat Brose in both of their head to head matches last year. Both of those matches were defense oriented. Brose still remember all the troubles they went through at Artland's arena, so they plan to respond to Artland's aggressive game with even more aggression. They can definitely keep up with their opponent physically. Brose played Tübingen on Wednesday and allowed them to score only 62 points, but they haven't been themselves in the two matches they played away so far. Brose are definitely playing the role of favorite, but Artland, who are traditionally good home, also stand a chance.