Berlin championship celebrations in Munich: Alba Berlin made the title hat-trick perfect with a superior performance and on Sunday (June 19, 2022) put on the German basketball crown for the eleventh time.
Coach Israel Gonzalez’s ripped-off team won the fourth playoff final game with a well-deserved 96:81 (26:17, 26:19, 24:18 and 20:27) against constant rival FC Bayern and helped decide the best-of-five series 3:1 for himself.
“It’s super cool. We’ll celebrate appropriately”, said Alba professional Oscar da Silva on “MagentaSport”. Munich’s Nick Weiler-Babb bowed to his opponent: “They played very well at the right time.” Bayern had to deal with great adversity in the season as a whole and “many injured, many corona cases” had.
Jaleen Smith best scorer
Jaleen Smith (23 points) and international Johannes Thiemann (15) led the capital city to their third championship in a row in front of just 5,469 spectators in the hot and humid Munich Dome – and the “Albatrosses” celebrated in Munich for the third time.
In the eyes of Bayern President Herbert Hainer, the guests benefited above all from their strong first half. The cup winner from Berlin made the sixth double in the club’s history perfect with the championship title. Bayern had their best pitcher in Augustine Rubit (15).
Well recovered from the home bankruptcy
“We have to learn from the defeat and rediscover our identity in the game in Munich”, Gonzalez had demanded after the violent 60:90 home slap on Friday – and his team appeared to have recovered well from the surprising bankruptcy from the start. Led by the strong Smith, the guests took an 11-0 lead after just three minutes. Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri took the first break early on – and his weakened team came into play better, but was constantly behind.
The Berliners always remained the more alert and efficient team, the exhausted Munich team (84th game of the season) struggled with their weak three-point quota. The lead grew steadily until the middle of the second quarter. At half-time a small preliminary decision had already been made at 52:36.
During the break, Hainer addressed Bayern’s lack of support, the hosts had to do without top performers such as Vladimir Lucic and Corey Walden. The Munich team, who suffered their fourth home defeat in a row in the playoffs, tried everything again after half-time, but couldn’t come within striking distance of the hard-nosed Berliners. In the middle of the third quarter, the lead had grown to 24 points (64:40).
Mini catch-up in the final quarter
Bayern reduced the deficit again after a run in the final quarter (53:76), but the Berliners never really faltered. The last few minutes became a show for Alba, and the fans who had traveled with them from the capital began the championship celebrations early on.