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Telekom might like Vechta's style

The away team play fast basketball while defense is not their strong side. The home team should not have a hard time imposing their game

It would be slightly unfair if Telekom were without a win after the first two rounds.They were unlucky to lose against Bayern and they almost lost another thriller on Sunday. They were a better team for most of that game. Coach Mathias Fischer decided once again to start without a real center.

Their standard number four James McLean played as as the center which allowed the Bonn team to have a quick transition which became more emphasized in the third quarter. They got a double-digit lead in this quarter. They had +9 with 2 minutes to go but this is where they became too lax. Tübingen got back into the game.

At 77-74 for Telekom, Benas Veikalas misses both free throws with only seconds to go. This gave Tübingen a chance to score a three-pointer to take the game into the overtime. However, they decided to go for penetration, they earned two free throws but the time was up.

- I am very pleased with the way we played and the fact that we managed to win in the end. It was a game against a tricky opponent that was unnecessarily made even trickier. It is much more important that we fought back the right way and were much better in defense - said coach Fischer.

The main shooters Ryan Brooks and Benas Veikalas  had a joint score of 36 points. More was certainly expected of McLean. This was not his night and he also missed the final moments of the game due to his five personal fouls. Point guard Jordan also wasn't at his usual best. He only had three assists.

However, they should have a lot easier task against Rasta Vechta today. While Tübingen  base their performance on defense, Rasta Vechta like to outrun their opponents. Telekom are bound to take this opportunity to go for their quick transition game and should have lots of easy points.

The Vechta club had the first home game in the top tier in their history. This fact obviously weighed them down in the first round and stopped them from surprising Trier. Rasta managed to impose their faster game. They had 61 shots field goals and about 30 free throws, but the problem was it was not their day. Their 3-point efficiency was only 3/22. Apart from their point guard RiChard Williams (13 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists) and power forward Jacob Doerksen (14 points), none of their players were in the right mood.

- I am not happy with this. We didn't play smart and our shot efficiency was pretty poor. I didn't see a great Ludwigsburg but we didn't do much either. It is very important to note that our shortest player had the most rebounds - said coach Patrick Elzie.

He emphasized the fact that his team had overall 6 assists and a weak shot efficiency from the free throw line. In addition to all that, they managed to reduce Ludwigsburg's advantage to just 2 points. But this is when their opponents had a great run.

Without any doubt, it was their poor offensive performance that cost Vechta their win. They had an average of 93 points per game last year in the second league, and they got 87 points against Trier in the first round. This is obviously a team that get their wins through good offensive basketball. Something similar to Telekom.

Telekom are a typical home team who were close to winning in the first round against powerful Bayern. They scored more than 80 points in that match, and Bayern's faster pace certainly suited them since they try to play as fast as possible transition as well, lead by their point guard Jared Jordan. That is why their opponent today should suit them as well. Rasta Vecha proved in the first few rounds that they will stick to their game - short attacks, and many three point attempts...Their problem is second worst efficiency in the league. Trier, who are not particular oriented on offense, managed to score 84 point against them in the first round. Rasta's centers are not that good and that is a segment which Telekom should be dominating over thanks to their tall players who move swiftly. To summarize, the visiting team's style agrees with the home team, and they should go over this margin with average shooting.