The Paderborn Baskets were the Cinderella story of last season when they reached unexpectedly the Finals of the NBBL Top4 in Berlin. With the departure of Robert Hülsewede to the professional team, the team lost one of its major assets but Coach Artur Gacaev made a tremendous job and the team qualified without their Starting PG Ole Wendt out because of an injury once again for the Semi-Finals.
Shooting Guard Lars Wendt was therefore very happy after the 2-1 won Quarter-Final series where Paderborn crashed the team from Bremerhaven twice at home.
The wins over Bremerhaven were that large because we have played together extremely well and everybody was super motivated with the big crowd in the gym and the unnecessary defeat on the road the weekend before where we have lost in overtime. Bremerhaven had to play without Anthony Canty but we needed to play without my brother Ole as well, so the victory was totally deserved, even with such a big difference (86-46).
Now Paderborn will play against ALBA Urspring in the semi-finals, a duel that has already been played last season and where Paderborn managed to overcome the defending champion behind an excellent performance by Lars Wendt with 25pts. How does the guard see the upcoming game against a team that certainly wants its revenge.
It will of course be a very difficult game against ALBA Urspring as they have a multitude of National Team players. However, I think that the team that is going to hit its shots will win as both play a good defense.
For Lars Wendt, the defending champions from ALBA Berlin are also the favorites for this season.
Yes, ALBA Berlin is the main favorite for the title as they are unbeaten for about 2 years now. They have a very balanced team and have good players on every position.
Personally, Wendt is not so satisfied about his season but is looking forward to the future.
I am somewhat satisfied with my season and I hope I can play for the U18 National Team this summer during the European Championship. My goal for next season is to get a spot in the professional team that will play the ProA League and to develop onto the next level.
Lars Wendt averaged this season 20.7ppg (50.0% 2FG, 35.9% 3FG, 66.1% FTs), 4.4rpg, 3.9apg, 3.0spg, 2.2topg for an 18.1effpg. He was a member of the German U18 National Team that has won the Silver Medal at the Albert-Schweitzer Tournament and he should play the U18 European Championship this summer in Vilnius.
1 response so far ↓
1 Stevan // May 16, 2010 at 1:16 am
The pitfall of german basketball is
1. the limited expertise on the most coaches who work with players younger than 14.
2. The number of kids who start with basketball younger than 14.
3. The willingness of kids to train a lot.
4. The non existing perspective for young players to see exposure on the pro level.
5. The people who make the decisions are incompetent.
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