The little basketball sensation from Saxony
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the best basketball team in the country? Bayern Munich? No. Alba Berlin? No. The Niners Chemnitz are the team of the moment in the Bundesliga - and even inspire a world champion. What's going on in Saxony?
Success is sexy - the Niners Chemnitz are realizing that at the moment. The basketball team from Saxony have not lost 17 games in a row across all competitions and are on the verge of equaling the record set by Telekom Baskets Bonn last season. Interest in the Niners is correspondingly high ahead of the cup quarter-final against German champions ratiopharm Ulm this Saturday (18:30).
Niners managing director Steffen Herhold can hardly save himself from inquiries at the moment. "The euphoria is huge. It's a nice snapshot," said Herhold. However, the Chemnitz success story is no longer just a snapshot, but rather the result of continuous and determined work. Since the Niners made the leap into the first division in 2020, they have continued to climb year after year. They were the first East German team to qualify for the Bundesliga play-offs in 2022 and have long since overtaken Mitteldeutscher BC as the number one team in the East.
"I'm impressed with how Chemnitz is playing right now"
National coach Gordon Herbert is also very impressed by the work that the Niners have been doing for years. "I'm impressed by how Chemnitz is playing right now - they're doing extremely well both offensively and defensively. They have a very good coach in Rodrigo Pastore," said the world champion coach in an interview with the "Freie Presse". "It's impressive what Rodrigo Pastore and the whole club have achieved over the past few years."
One of the main guarantors of the sporting upswing is Pastore, whom Herbert praised. The 51-year-old Argentinian has been in charge at Chemnitz since the summer of 2015 and has long since made a name for himself internationally as a meticulous worker and tactician. "His teams have a clear structure and his tactical adjustments during the game are imaginative and precise," said Stefan Koch, two-time coach of the year in the Bundesliga and current TV pundit, praising the Argentinian coach with an Italian passport.
Big goals formulated before the season
"Rodrigo and Chemnitz - it just fits like a glove," said Herhold, who has managed to keep the now internationally sought-after coach in Chemnitz year after year. "Rodrigo knows what he has in Chemnitz. When philosophies overlap, a lot of positive things can come from continuity, which is rather unusual in professional sport," said the Niners boss.
However, they themselves had not expected things to go so well in Chemnitz. Although they had started the season with very ambitious goals. "We want to finish in the top four in all three competitions," was the announcement before the season. And despite many injuries, Chemnitz are currently right on target. The Niners are enthroned at the top of the Bundesliga, are unbeaten in the intermediate round of the Fiba Europe Cup and are in the quarter-finals of the cup.
German champions ratiopharm Ulm now await them there. The team that inflicted Chemnitz's only defeat of the season so far on the first matchday. The chance to get revenge therefore serves as extra motivation, even if that is not actually necessary. "Getting into the Top Four is motivation enough," said Herhold, who intends to apply to host the cup finals with the Niners if the worst comes to the worst. "We will definitely look into it. That would be a great thing for the whole city, for the whole region," said Herhold. And the next milestone in an impressive development.
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Despite their impressive run, the Niners Chemnitz still have some tough opponents ahead. Their next challenge is against ALBA Berlin, who are known for their strong performances in basketball. In fact, ALBA Berlin's basketball team, Bayern Munich Basketball's main rival in the Bundesliga, will pose a significant test for Chemnitz. With their collective skills and determination, both teams are eager to emerge victorious.
Source: www.ntv.de
