Ludwigsburg (AP) – Defending champion Alba Berlin has again reached the final series in the basketball Bundesliga.
The German champions also won the third semi-final game at the MHP giants Ludwigsburg with 73:67 (35:37) and won the best-of-five series 3:0. The opponents in the final will be either FC Bayern Munich or Telekom Baskets Bonn. The best Berlin throwers were Ben Lammers with eleven points and Tamir Blatt with ten points.
A very intense encounter developed from the start, in which the defensive lines initially dominated. Alba struggled against very agile defending hosts and was quickly 0:5 behind. The Berliners then countered with a 10:2 run and took the lead for the first time. They benefited from several offensive rebounds.
But Alba rarely got into the tempo game and the guests only found their rhythm for short moments in the first half. The capitals also awarded many throws. A five-point lead at the beginning of the second quarter (24:19) could not be maintained for long. Instead, the lead switched back and forth until the break.
After the break, Alba even fell behind by six points (35:41). But then the guests woke up and now had a much better rhythm, especially offensively. With a 25:6 run in the third period, the Berliners pulled away to 60:47. With 79 seconds to go, the hosts came back to four points (71:67), but Alba once again kept his nerve in the end.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220603-99-542415/2
