Alba Berlin missed the first chance for the title in the third game of the playoff final series against Bayern Munich – with a clear home defeat.
The Berliners lost the third final duel against Bayern Munich on Friday evening (June 17th, 2022) 60:90 (33:52) and suffered their first defeat after 19 wins in a row. In the sold-out hall with 14,500 spectators, a weak first half cost the Berliners their victory.
The title is still possible for Alba, who leads 2-1 in the best-of-five series, on Sunday (3 p.m.) in Munich. A possible fifth duel is scheduled for next Wednesday in Berlin (8.30 p.m.). Alba head coach Israel Gonzalez said: “They played much, much better than us. They deserved the win and did everything better than us.”
Bayern win despite staff worries
The best throwers from Berlin were Oscar da Silva (15) and Maodo Lo (10). Munich had its top scorers in Nick Weiler-Babb and Deshaun Thomas (both 19).
Top performers like Vladimir Lucic were sorely missed at Bayern after the tiring double burden of the European and Bundesliga. Bayern head coach Andrea Trinchieri only saw the championship decision in favor of Berlin postponed in view of personnel concerns: “I know about the situation. I’m realistic. We just postponed the party,” said Trinchieri: “But we didn’t want to just give up.”
Alba, on the other hand, was able to draw on plenty of personnel. However, neither this advantage nor the great self-confidence after the previous successes made itself felt.
Mortgage of the weak first half in the end too big
The error rate was high both under the basket and from a distance, Bayern had the upper hand in rebounds, in the meantime Berlin was eleven points behind in the first quarter (8:19) – head coach Gonzalez took the first time-out. Little changed in the course of the game. Alba hardly found any gaps in the Munich defensive network, if they did, the precision was too often missing. Bayern, on the other hand, combined quickly and were also dangerous from the three-point line.
In the middle of the second quarter, Alba’s deficit had grown to 22 points for the first time (22:44). The mortgage from the first round seemed to have settled in the minds of the Berliners – in the third quarter it took more than five minutes for Lo to score the first points for Alba. The turning point didn’t work that way. Munich moved further away. In the end, the defeat was very clear.