At first glance, this is the right opponent to get back into the everyday life of the Basketball Bundesliga after the NBA adventure in Portland: Ratiopharm Ulm will play against the Thunderbirds in Oldenburg on Saturday (6:30 p.m.). The German champion of 2009 is currently in third-to-last place in the table and has suffered three, sometimes heavy, defeats in a row: a 70:105 defeat in Berlin, a 78:87 in the northern derby against Hamburg and finally a 79:85 after being behind at one point more than 30 points in the cup against Bundesliga promoted Frankfurt.
Ratiopharm Ulm plays in Oldenburg
In professional sports, sugarcoating is usually part of the toolbox of club press departments. The Oldenburg PR specialists don’t even try that in connection with the Frankfurt game. On the Thunderbirds homepage there is talk of a punch in the stomach, of little energy and inspiration and of questions that now need to be answered on the floor. It doesn’t sound like coach Pedro Calles can continue to work in peace.
The Ulm team have recently suffered three defeats in a row. The most painful thing was the cup loss against Bamberg, the slap in the Eurocup against Besiktas Istanbul should have little impact and in Portland the result was unimportant. In any case, there is no trace of a crisis mood for the league leaders, who are still undefeated in the Bundesliga. The question is when Karim Jallow will come back and when Isaiah Roby, who injured his shoulder in Istanbul.
