Playing above the rim
Basket Bonn won another Masters. They scored 101 points total, during 5 games. 26 of these 101 points were dunks. Second team in this category, Bordeaux, had five dunks in the whole tournament. Fabian Giessmann dunked 15 times, Denzel Agyeman - 7, Sidi Beikame - 4. No other player had more than 3 dunks this weekend in Switzerland. It speaks for itself, doesn’t it?
If not, just take a look at the final game result: 21:9. Do-mi-na-tion.
Playing below the expectation
In their 14th tournament this year (counting both masters and challengers), Liman finished 9th, and it is the worst result in the whole 2026 season. Has Liman played too often recently? We don’t think so. They won challenger in Uenohara week ago, relatively easy. They just encounter strong opponents in a pool phase - Cibona and Valencia. Both of them were…
Playing just right
Watching Cibona is fun. They are very patient during the game, especially with ball in hands. Paradoxically, in this high-pace, 12 seconds action time game patience is one of the most important things. They beat both Liman and Valencia to lose to Vienna in quarterfinal. But it was a close game. We will keep an eye on them.
Vienna had a very good tournament, too. Not a surprise after seeing Tony Blazan making 8 out of 16 shots outside the arc. They spent a lot of time thinking how to stop Giessmann dunks…
…and were not far from winning the semifinal against Germans.
Bordeaux team played two overtimes during pool phase (lost vs Antwerp and won vs Lausanne). We should see more from there later during the season - they have a half of national team in their roster (Alex Vialaret and Emmanuel Monceau) - the same team which finished 4th during WorldCup in Warsaw 2 months ago. The game against Antwerp was the best match of the tournament:
Talking about Antwerp - statistically they could win it all. They shot 73% from inside the arc and 38% outside (best team in Lausanne in this category). They took care about the ball (3.8 only turnovers per game). Finally, the Belgian team, led by Caspar Augustijnen and Jonas Foerts finished 3rd, and it was their best result this season. One piece was missing - rebounding - and Lithuanians from Raudondvaris exploited this weakness without mercy.
Fabienomenon
It was Debrecen, U18 WorldCup 2023, when we saw Fabian Giessmann’s phenomenon for the first time live. His team won the championship, of course he was rewarded with the MVP title. Since this time, his growth is phenomenal.
It’s obvious, that he is physically gifted - strong, fast, agile. 3x3 version of young Shaq, enhanced with very solid distance shooting. But his mental strength is maybe even bigger. He seems to be able to win tough games because… he wants to win them so badly. We saw it already in Amsterdam month ago. And he did it again in Lausanne, dominating the overtime against Ulanbaataar:
That’s one of the reasons why Bonn team is our favourite team for 2026 World Tour Final. Sorry Serbians, but you can prove we are wrong in two weeks, in Hungary. Fabian will be there waiting for you.
Unfortunately, we are not able to attend the next masters in person. We used to visit Debrecen every year and truly love the city, but this time we can’t make it. If you are going to be there - drop us a message to get a professional consulting on best goulash place - we are happy to guide you, even remotely.
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