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BBL final: A win is missing – dominant Alba basketball players before the coronation

Status: 06/16/2022 3:43 p.m

For the first time in 19 years, Alba wants to celebrate the German basketball championship in front of her own fans in Berlin. Bayern are badly hit – and have only one hope.

In the third final game of the basketball Bundesliga between the heavyweights Alba Berlin and Bayern Munich, the hosts can celebrate their third championship in a row this Friday (7:00 p.m.).

The star ensemble from the Isar, in the Euroleague against FC Barcelona only narrowly missed the first Final Four participation of a German team in the premier class, is threatened with a season without a trophy – and then a summer break with many discussions.

Alba oozes confidence

Hardly anyone doubts that Alba makes everything clear at home. The Berliners have been trumping too confidently for weeks and have now won 19 games in a row. In the first two finals against their big rivals from Munich, the capital city also showed an impressive show of power. While Alba is bursting with self-confidence, Bayern are reaching their physical limits after 82 competitive games so far. In addition, in Darrun Hilliard, Corey Walden and now also Vladmir Lucic three top performers are not available. That’s too much even for the Munich team that has been upgraded.

“It’s just fun”

Alba coach Israel González, on the cusp of his first championship in his first year as head coach, has plenty to draw from and a squad with impressive chemistry. “It’s just fun, whether in training or in a game”, said Alba center Johannes Thiemann.

Now the big title break should rise in their own arena. It would be the first time in 19 years that Alba would complete a championship in its own hall. In 2020, the title was won at the Corona tournament in Munich, and last year the Berliners also won the decisive victory in Munich. “We want to treat our home crowd”said Alba’s Oscar da Silva. “We won the trophy at home, but the league is a little bit bigger.”

“We will not go to Berlin without hope”

The Bavarians really only have the principle of hope. But that’s exactly where the chance for the Munich team to find their way back into the series can lie. “In Berlin everything will be ready to lift the trophy”said Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri. “The motto for game three is: never give up the fight, never!” Alba coach González therefore expects a difficult game. “We need to control our emotions”demanded the Spaniard. “We can’t think about what might happen after the game, we have to concentrate fully on the game.”

In the Euroleague and in the Bundesliga main round, Bayern achieved two victories in Berlin. “As long as we play, we have hope. We don’t go to Berlin without hope.”said captain Nihad Djedovic. “It’s nothing new to win in Berlin, we’ve done it a few times before.” But the statistics speak against Bayern. Only once did a team manage to turn a 0-2 draw into a 3-2 draw in a series of finals: Bayreuth versus Leverkusen in 1989.

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