Alba against Bayern: The confetti cannons stuffed – sport

By mobilizing the last reserves, the FC Bayern basketball team forced a fourth final game for the German championship – and at least postponed the planned championship celebration of the defending champion Alba Berlin. In front of a full house, the Berliners became victims of scenic fear and let themselves be played by the brutally decimated Bavarians. They won 90:60, giving the Berliners their first bankruptcy after 19 wins in a row.

The result: A fourth final game will take place in Munich on Sunday. In order to force a fifth final game and thus keep the option of preventing Berlin from winning the eleventh championship title, the Munich team must be victorious on their Sunday shift. A Bayern championship triumph would be a sensation simply because in the history of the basketball Bundesliga only one team has managed to turn a 0:2 deficit in a final series: Bayreuth against Leverkusen. That was in the spring of 1989, when the Berlin Wall was still standing very close to the Arena in Berlin, which serves as Alba’s home.

In the days and hours before the game, Bayern had publicly proclaimed hope, which certain experts almost felt like a denial of reality. Where: Objectively speaking, nothing actually spoke for Bayern. or nothingto use the language of Andrea Trinchieri, the Italian coach.

In the short term, Leon Radosevic is also absent on the Munich side

It wasn’t just that Bayern clearly lost the first two playoff games (73-86, 58-71). At least as grueling was the bad luck with injuries that had afflicted Munich in a dramatic way. Your delegation included twelve actors. But on Friday, not only were Darrun Hilliard, Corey Walden and Vladimir Lucic, who had already dropped out in the second game, absent, Leon Radosevic also had to withdraw at short notice. As FC Bayern announced on Friday, Radosevic had been in the hospital “for observation” since Wednesday after contracting a fever.

But behold: Bayern showed from the start that they had not traveled to Berlin as accessories for a game. But to stuff the confetti cannons. When Alba’s Spanish coach Israel González called for a time-out after a good six and a half minutes, Bayern were already eleven points ahead (19:8). González was amazed: “They deserved the win and did everything better than we did.” In terms of physique, aggressiveness and determination, the Munich team were superior to their hosts.

That was pretty surprising. In the previous games, Bayern had given the impression of being exhausted after the grueling and draining Euro League games. But: They ended the first quarter with a 23:15 lead – also because they provoked ball losses from Berlin and were more effective under the Alba basket. Ten rebounds spoke for themselves.

Game number four takes place in Munich on Sunday afternoon

Coach González reacted – and brought in Christ Koumandje, who, because of his height of 2.24 meters, could probably also dunk if the basket were hung on the victory column. Alone: ​​The effect on the game was zero. The wrists of the Berliners remained stiff, in contrast to those of the Bavarians, who extended their lead in particular through three-point throws. At times, Bayern were more than 20 points ahead (50:28). During the half-time break, the Berliners were able to reduce their lead to 19 points (33:52).

The question was how long the fuel in Munich would last. But the leadership and above all the way it was played drilled straight into the central nervous system of both teams. On the one hand, the course of the game paralyzed the Berliners, who had a miserable rate from the three-point line (10 percent) and, above all, defensively acted underground.

Bayern, on the other hand, turned every sequence into an increase in morale and playful self-confidence. Before the start of the last quarter, Munich were leading with an incredible 26 points (72:46). In the end, Bayern were even 30 points ahead. And had imposed Sunday work on themselves. Bayern coach Trinchieri remained humble when he said : “We didn’t want to just give up.” He added: “I know the situation. I’m being realistic. We just postponed the party.” Let’s see. His players, where Thomas (19 points), Weiler-Babb (19), Hunter (13) and Djedovic (10) scored the best on Friday evening, would certainly prefer it if the confetti cannons were silent in Munich as well.