The Niners Chemnitz are still at the top of the Basketball Bundesliga table and are in the European Cup quarter-finals. The fact that we haven’t been able to win against the really big teams recently is also due to a change in perception. Chemnitz is now the “team to beat”. But the ambitious goals for the season are still a little way away. In order to achieve this, the focus must be kept fully up.
The Niners Chemnitz’s next game falls into the difficult category. Not because of the opponent or the pressure, but because of other conditions. The Saxons are in the knockout round of the Europe Cup – completely independent of the outcome of the game on Wednesday (from 6:55 p.m. in the “Sport im Osten” live stream and live ticker) against ZZ Leiden. So how do you approach a game like this? As little risk as possible?
“The DNA of our team is competitive, it wants to win. Of course we know we are qualified, are first and have the home advantage in the quarter-finals. The coaches will rotate enough and don’t let any player play longer than necessary. Things get a bit difficult “Power management with a view to the weekend,” says Niners managing director Steffen Herhold in an interview with “Sport im Osten”.
Suffering in sight, but Zaragoza already in mind
Even if the focus is “always on the next game”, we are already looking ahead a bit, after all it is already clear who the Chemnitz team will have to play against in the round of the best eight. The Pastore team faces the Baskets from Zaragoza.
“That’s one of the hardest things you can get. They’re a traditional team in basketball, a very strong location. One or two well-known players who caused a sensation in the BBL a few years ago also play there. That’s awesome “, Herhold is looking forward to the games that will take place in March.
Final Four and then the title?
Despite the difficulty of the task, Zaragoza should only be an intermediate step on the way to the big success. “Our goal before the season was to get into the top four in all competitions,” said Herhold. While they narrowly failed in the cup, they are fully on track in the European Cup and the league. And what happens after the semi-finals? “If we’re in the competition, we want to go all the way to the end. That’s what motivates everyone to win a title at some point. That’s how we work, that’s how we go into the hall and into every game.”
Chemnitz also ready for the BBL crown?
The basic requirement for all of these goals is that the team always pushes itself to its limits. Especially in the league. There were the only defeats of the season so far against the top teams from Ulm, Berlin and Munich. It goes without saying that these teams, of all teams that have been beaten in the past, will now perform differently against the Niners, says Herhold: “We have already beaten Bayern four times in the Bundesliga, but that was under different circumstances. There were “We’re not first in the table, not the ‘team to beat’. The opponent might not be fully focused on the matter, so players are spared. That’s when surprises like this happen.” Now you are at eye level with your opponent in terms of perception, the teams both play with their sights open and the “real moment” arises.
And it’s the same in basketball: money shoots baskets.
Steffen Herhold | Managing Director of Niners Chemnitz
In order to be able to annoy the big players in the industry in the long term, the people of Chemnitz are missing something fundamental: money. Or as Herhold puts it: “A few million! That’s the obvious, you can’t ignore it. We’re in a completely different budget region. And it’s the same in basketball: money shoots baskets.”
In the short term, the league’s first goal is to achieve its goal: a place in the top four. “We see that we consistently score points in the other games and win games where we don’t play perfectly. That’s important to stay where we are. We want to be in the top 4, we want home advantage in the playoffs and next “We’re going to play the Champions League every year. To do that, we have to approach every game as if it were a final,” explains Herhold.
This topic in the program:The first | ARD lunchtime magazine | February 06, 2024 | 12:10 p.m
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2024-02-06 15:23:43
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