Once again Alba Berlin fails to stop Rasta Vechta’s offensive. Friday’s performance was largely disappointing and has a sobering effect on the rest of the playoffs. While Lower Saxony is only missing a win to reach the semi-finals, the Berliners are on the verge of elimination.
- Alba Berlin loses the third quarter-final game in Vechta 81:92
- Vechta only needs one win to reach the semi-finals
- Alba’s defense was particularly disappointing
Alba Berlin The end of the season is already threatening in the quarterfinals of the playoffs of the Basketball Bundesliga. The Berliners lost the third playoff game at Rasta Vechta on Friday evening with 81:92 (44:53).
Vechta is leading 2-1 in the best-of-five series and can make the semi-finals perfect on Sunday at the same location – whoever has three wins first advances. That would be an absolute disappointment for the favorite Alba, who went into the playoffs second in the Bundesliga table. The best Berlin thrower was Martin Hermannsson with 19 points. At Vechta, Alonzo Verge Jr. scored 24 points.
Alba leads early but then loses control of the game
In the first game of the series, Rasta Vechta had overrun the Berliners in their own hall, in the second game they came back and equalized the series – but almost gambled away a double-digit lead shortly before the end. For game 3, the series moved to Oldenburger Münsterland, where Vechta’s hall, with its capacity for only 3,140 spectators, is constantly sold out. Same this time.
The fans in the orange T-shirts saw a quick and intense start, Alba controlled the early stages and took a 12-4 lead. Pedro Calles’ team didn’t seem to be impressed by the infernal noise. But that didn’t impress Vechta. About as many people live in the city of 33,000 as in Britz or Buckow, as in Rudow or Hakenfelde. But there was no reason for the capital’s arrogance, as it soon became clear. Vechta’s offense got more and more rolling and scored one three-pointer after another.
The now 36-year-old center Tibor Pleiß took over two of them. At 2.18 meters long, it looks like a fascinating lever mechanism from the third floor. Pleiß now sometimes moves as if he were wearing a full-body bandage, but he has the wisdom of more than 800 professional games. He passes the ball when doubled, after the pick ‘n’ roll he simply raises his hands one floor higher than everyone else and just runs wherever space will open up. You know all this, but sometimes it shines even brighter than most days. Unfavorable for Berlin: Friday was one of those times – at the end of the game Pleiß had 22 points, four three-pointers and ten rebounds on the statistics sheet.
“Nothing at all”: Alba’s leader Martin Hermannsson was visibly satisfied – and was the only one who played conspicuously.
Show of power in the second quarter
Vechta’s young head coach Christian Held has prescribed a brutally fast offensive for his team, with a goal being achieved in a maximum of eight seconds after possession of the ball. To put it mildly, it is no longer a secret. But as in Game 1, the Berlin defense had no one who could even begin to compete one-on-one with Vechta guards Alonzo Verge Jr. and Tevin Brown. The premium defender Jonas Mattisseck, who was called that for many years, didn’t see any downside, but there was no need to single him out because his colleagues also showed really poor defense. Justin Bean wasn’t a factor, and Jack Kayil couldn’t find a way either.
Verge and Brown, on the other hand, moved into the zone for Vechta almost effortlessly as they wanted throughout the game and they took advantage of the attack after attack. The referees gave them one or two foul whistles too many, but that didn’t excuse the Berliners’ passivity and sloppiness. They had nothing to counter it and the attacks frayed, at times appearing perplexed and enigmatic.
Your coach Pedro Calles took significantly more time off this time than last Tuesday, but it changed little. At halftime, seventh-placed Vechta led against second-placed Alba with 53:44. Alba never got her foot in the door. “53 points at halftime are simply too many,” said a visibly annoyed Martin Hermannsson on “Dyn”. What did he like about his team’s performance so far? “Nothing at all,” he replied.
Alba fights back, Vechta remains stable
Things continued like this in the third quarter. The Vechta team played a press defense across the entire field because they sensed the uncertainty and vulnerability of their opponents under pressure. So they stole the ball over and over again in the simplest way. In the end, Vechta had eleven steals, Alba had six. The fact that Team Orange could and would defend like this shouldn’t surprise anyone – least of all the coach and player from Alba Berlin. Vechta led 63:49.
But Alba slowly fought her way back in the middle of the quarter through unglamorous, strenuous work on the boards. The visibly pissed Hermannsson followed up his words with threes, he kept his team alive and in the end became their top scorer with 19 points. At the back, Berlin managed to stop the bleeding for the first time. The guests actually came within two points of each other.
Alba’s head coach Pedro Calles
We lost defense and allowed ourselves to be beaten too easily one-on-one, which meant we conceded easy points. Later Alonzo Verge and Tibor Pleiß hurt us.
Next game on Sunday: “Do or die”
But then again Pleiß for three from way up high, more rocket cuts from Alonzo Verge Jr., almost always followed by bonus free throws. Alba couldn’t do more than that, it looked like it was piecemeal. Even worse, it seemed completely decoded, without any other layer that could possibly be trusted. Vechta always had the right answer until the end to keep the Berliners at bay.
In the end, the hosts won in the roaring Rasta Dome with 91:82 [easycredit-bbl.de]. That seemed more merciful than it was because Alba was able to add a few baskets as cosmetics to the result at the last minute.
The favorite has certainly not been written off yet. But which buttons in the cockpit the Berliners want to press on Sunday that they haven’t yet found in the dark – that remains the million-dollar question. The next defeat would end Alba’s season.
Broadcast: rbb|24, May 22, 2026, 8:55 p.m
Audio: rbb|24, May 22, 2026, Tiede Thedinga
