The BBL Finals pits two teams that have never won the championship before. A turning point in German basketball is looming.
The basketball Bundesliga is facing a turning point. Those who have followed the BBL over the past few years will have noticed that the annual championship is firmly in the hands of three teams. Since 2009, the champion has always been either Brose Bamberg, Bayern Munich or Alba Berlin.
Even if the 2022/23 season is not over yet – the first final game starts tonight at 8.30 p.m. – it is already clear that the champion will be different this time. Berlin and Munich had to give up in the first two rounds, Brose Bamberg did playoff-Failed to qualify.
In the final, there are now two teams that few would have backed at the beginning of the season: Telekom Baskets Bonn and ratiopharm Ulm.
Learned from the mistakes
The team from the south of North Rhine-Westphalia drew attention to themselves last season when Bayern were on the brink of defeat after being 2-0 down. The near-surprise was followed by disappointment: Point Guard Parker Jackson Cartwrightjust named Most Valuable Player of the Season, left the club for France.
Apart from him, however, the Baskets were able to hold the core of the team together. And the gap in the build-up position was also closed. As a replacement for the short American Jackson Cartwright, you caught up TJ shorts, an even shorter American. Whether it’s the parallels between the two players or simply the genius of their game, the plan worked.
The Finn Tuomas Iisalo is in great demand in Europe. Will he remain a coach in Bonn?
Bonn has been unbeaten in the BBL since January
It didn’t take long for the 1.75 meter tall TJ shorts perfectly integrated into the well-established team. With an average of over 18 points and seven assists per game, he not only proved that he could harmonize with the team, but also that he was one of the best in his field. So it was no surprise that, like his predecessor, he too MVP was chosen.
But the team’s success shouldn’t be neglected this season either. Coach Tuomas Iisalo’s team ended the regular season as the best team. In the quarter-finals, Bonn initially overran the eighth-placed team niners Chemnitz before they made short work of the giants from Ludwigsburg in the semifinals. Oh yes, and just before that they had also won the Basketball Champions League. In short: Since January – no, no kidding – no team has managed to stop the baskets. ratiopharm Ulm now has one last chance to do so.
The unlikely favourites
In a normal year things would be quite clear. Because nobody would have expected Bonn to come first and now be undisputed in the finals, they would also deserve the title of surprise team of the year. But it wasn’t a normal year. Because if that were the case, then the seventh of the regular season would certainly not have thrown last year’s champion Alba Berlin and immediately afterwards the reigning cup winner Bayern Munich out of the competition.
And that should be mentioned again at this point: Ratiopharm Ulm only lost one game from both series – away at Alba Berlin. Bayern, who had dominated the national cup competition in February, were swept by the Swabians into the summer break and Munich coach Andrea Trinchieri into early retirement.
In his rookie season in the finals: Ratiopharm Ulm trainer Anton Gavel convinced his critics.
A surprise bag called Ulm
This success story was far from foreseeable. Only last summer there was a major upheaval on the Danube. Numerous top performers and the long-time successful coach Jaka Lakovic turned their backs on the club. In search of a replacement, the club management put together a piñata consisting of numerous foreign talents and the supposedly inexperienced youth coach Anton Gavel.
The plan didn’t work out at first. This was followed by four defeats at the beginning of the season in the league and the early exit from the cup. The team only found its rhythm with the signings of ex-NBA players Brandon Paul and Bruno Caboclo. In the end, they only just qualified for the playoffs with 18 wins from 34 games. But right from the start, the southern Germans brought their best basketball onto the floor. Two title contenders have already been surprised, is the third one to follow?
A championship for them history books
No matter how the final series between Bonn and Ulm goes, the mere fact that this pairing came about is already a testament to the increased quality in the basketball Bundesliga. The top dogs of the last few decades seem to have finally got competition.
The first duel will take place on Friday (08.06.23) from 8.30 p.m. in Bonn. By the afternoon of June 18 at the latest, when the last possible fifth game is in the books, Basketball Germany will see a champion that has never existed before.