MChampions and cup winners lose at the start of the semi-finals. Alba Berlin and Bayern Munich are surprisingly defeated in the first game of their semi-final series – defending champion Berlin on Sunday at home Ratiopharm Ulm 71:73, Munich on Saturday in Ludwigsburg the MHP giants 98: 101. Alba looked like the sovereign winner for more than three quarters of the season. “That’s what it felt like,” confirmed the Berlin team captain Niels Giffey.
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Although the team of Spanish coach Aito Reneses only hit a single throw from distance in the first half (7 of 31 in total), they still led by twelve points in the last quarter – up to a 10-0 run for Ulm. The outstanding player was Dylan Osetkowski with 21 points and 11 rebounds. The huge center with the bun hit three distance throws and was crucial for the turn. “He wasn’t a factor in the first half,” marveled Giffey, “and all of a sudden he has 21 points. He played really well. “
The American said laconically: “We did what we set out to do: set stops and hit throws.” On Tuesday the two teams will play against each other again in Berlin; whoever can record three wins first is in the final. Jaka Lakowic, coach of Ulm, enthused: “We’ll ride the wave on.” He claimed: “I know what we can do better.” Game three and possibly four will take place in Ulm.
“That cost us the game”
Bayern also played for the German championship instead of presenting themselves on the big stage of European basketball. Fourteen days after winning the Cup over Alba Berlin, they were defeated by the top of the league table, Ludwigsburg, with 99: 101 points. The team got under the wheels in the first quarter of the game (17:29), lost the ball seven times in those ten minutes alone and struggled three quarters of the game to make up their 13-point deficit. Four seconds before the end, thanks to an 11-0 run in the final minutes, thanks to a total of 24 points from Wladimir Lucic and 20 from Dennis Seeley, it caught up to 98: 100.
Paul Zipser got 18 points. But two distance throws, one of which would have been enough to win, were forgiven by Lucic in literally the last second. “We played badly in the first half and didn’t respect their shooters,” said Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri: “That cost us the game.” His consolation: “Sometimes you have to accept a bad game in order to have motivation for the next . ”The next game in the series will take place this Monday, also in Ludwigsburg.
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In Cologne, Anadolu Efes Istanbul won the final of the Euroleague 86:81 against FC Barcelona on Sunday evening. Outstanding players on the Turkish side were the two playmakers Vasilje Mirotic, named the most valuable player of the season and courted by NBA clubs in America, with 25 points and Shane Larking with 21. They decided, playing together, the game in the final minutes, after Barcelona had caught up eleven points behind to 69:69. On the part of Barcelona, the number one after the points round, Cory Higgins towered over with 23 and Kyle Kuric with 18 points. Nikola Mirotic, allegedly the highest-paid professional basketball player in Europe, had just 11, while two-time NBA champion Pau Gasol, who had returned to Barcelona, only got one point.
For Tibor Pleiß, the 2.18 meter long center from Efes, the final was particularly bitter. Not used in the semifinals, Coach Attaman changed from Cologne in the second quarter. In his hometown, Pleiß brought his team, which had been ten points behind, back into the game. He hit a threesome, scored another basket, defended confidently against Pau Gasol, who had returned from the NBA. But after seven minutes Pleiß limped off the field, apparently injured in the calf. He did not return.
Ludwigsburg wins back at home
Both teams had narrowly won their semi-finals on Friday evening: Efes 89:86 against CSKA Moscow, Barcelona 84:82 against Olympia Milan, the team that had needed five games in the quarter-finals to defeat Bayern and the final four in their place Tournament in Cologne. Johannes Voigtmann from Thuringia scored six points for the ZSKA team in just under 33 minutes of play. In the 73:83 defeat in the game for third place against Milan, he came to 12 points.
The Ludwigsburg won their thirtieth home game in a row against Munich. While Bayern and Alba were busy in the basketball arenas of Europe, Ludwigsburg had concentrated on the Bundesliga and was the undisputed first in the play-offs. Development player Jaleen Smith (18 points) was named the most valuable player of the season, his long-injured colleague Barry Brown (15) is in no way inferior to him after a recovered injury. The outstanding player of the game was the veteran Jamal McLean; the center got 27 points.
The experience and the prospect of not playing alone on the weekends, but every two days, bothered some Ludwigsburg players. McLean confessed that he can still feel the series of five games in the quarter-finals against Bamberg in his legs. There was little time to regenerate until Monday evening, he complained.
Alba Berlin will let up to a thousand spectators into the hall in its second semi-final game against Ulm on Tuesday. The Senate Department for Home Affairs and Sport allowed a pilot project for this purpose. “Our games are actually shared experiences. It’s really nice and we are grateful that we can now experience the play-offs together again, live in the arena at the crucial phase of the season, ”said Alba managing director Marco Baldi.
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