Red-hot Joventut (8-5) could wrap up a place in the playoffs by overcoming lowly Hamburg (2-11), depending on other results.
Benka Barloschky, Hamburg: 'We want to give our fans another home win in the EuroCup'
Seasons
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 14 of 18
Regular Season
group a
Veolia Towers HamburgHAM
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Joventut BadalonaCJB
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Overview
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It should be a high-scoring game, with Hamburg netting at least 83 points in four straight games but only winning one of those due to a porous defense which has allowed a competition-high 99.1 points per game. That will encourage Joventut's top scorer Andrew Andrews, who has scored in double digits in nine straight games and blasted 33 points when the teams met in Round 5, with Joventut winning 108-76.
Benka Barloschky, Hamburg head coach
"Of course, we know that our chances of making the playoffs are only theoretical. With another defeat, the situation becomes clear. Nevertheless, we want to use the last five games to compete with the best teams in Europe. We don't want to waste a second of it - that's our main goal. And of course we are also playing for further success: We want to give our fans another home win in the EuroCup. Somewhat untypically for Badalona, there have already been a lot of changes this season but, despite the fluctuation, they always brought their quality to the floor. And also brought other young players to the next level. This can be seen particularly well with Yannick Kraag. He didn’t play a major role at the beginning of the season, but is now an integral part of their rotation."
Nilas Krause, Hamburg player
"We clearly lost in the first leg. That was one of the biggest defeats of the season for us. I think we clearly saw what happens when we can't match the opponent's energy. Badalona - especially Andrew Andrews, who I also defended from time to time - were able to play themselves into a frenzy at times, because we didn't physically resist. We definitely have to do better this time around."
Andrew Andrews, Joventut player
"The sceond half of the season is more or less the point in which you want to start playing well, find the rhythm and then peak in the final part of the season. Many EuroCup teams are still trying to find the rhythm and we are one of those teams, so we must keep playing seriously to keep building this team. In my experience at Bursaspor, fans stopped believing in us because of our bad start to the season, and we ended up playing the EuroCup final. We must look at the team's progression and not the exact moment we are in right now."