The basketball players from Alba Berlin achieved the sensation and won the championship title against top favorites Bayern Munich. Thanks to a breathtaking comeback, the capital team won game five of the final series away from the defending champions with 84:81 (27:47). Alba not only celebrated its twelfth championship title, but also spoiled Bayern’s veteran coach Svetislav Pesic’s last trophy in his last game before basketball retirement. While a season to forget for the Munich team ends without a title, the “Albatrosses” are the big surprise.
Berlin was 20 points behind at halftime before the race to catch up began. Led by precision shooters Jonas Mattisseck and Justin Bean (18 points each), the guests actually fought their way to a happy ending. Meanwhile, 24 points from world and European champion Andreas Obst were not enough for Bayern.
Bayern collapsed in game number four
The fact that there was a showdown at all was due to a major weak phase for Bayern in game number four: On Friday in Berlin, the Munich team still led by ten points in the third quarter, and the successful defense of their title was close. But then the guests received an unbelievable 2:26 run from Alba and ultimately lost 61:71. Only once during the season did the German industry leader score so few points – also in Berlin in October.
Coach Pesic couldn’t explain why. “I have never had this situation in my time at Bayern where we lost our concept,” he said. “We completely lost track,” said world and European champion Justus Hollatz at Dyn. “We let ourselves get too caught up in the spiral and then we couldn’t get out.”
Alba’s next master party in Munich
Meanwhile, Alba sensed the chance of a big coup. “We have to close the bag now,” demanded winger Michael Rataj. The Berliners actually know how to celebrate in Bavaria: the capital city team won their last three championships to date in 2020, 2021 and 2022 away in Munich.
There was no sign of any great party spirit among the guests or the fans who had traveled with them before the break. After a 20:25 lead in the first quarter, Alba experienced a similar slump to Bayern’s two days earlier; coach Pedro Calles’ team managed a total of seven points in the second half. Bayern punished this and extended their lead to 20 points. The hosts missed a number of chances to take an even bigger lead.
Bayern dispute with Bamberg because of Coach Gavel
Munich’s Pesic paced up and down in his coaching zone, and the Serb was also there with full energy in the last game of his long coaching career. A heated argument broke out this week about his successor: Bayern are courting Anton Gavel from Bamberg, and the former Munich professional also wants to.
Because, according to reports, Bayern did not want to pay a transfer fee, the coach submitted the notice of termination in Franconia due to a formal error in his contract, which runs until 2027. Club patron Michael Stoschek was angry and harshly criticized Gavel and Bayern. Bamberg’s managing director Philipp Höhne reassuringly insists on “a fair solution for all sides”.
Famous comeback after the break
Bayern recently remained silent on the subject. During the half-time break in game five, club patron Uli Hoeneß told Dyn that he was not involved. But he sounded relaxed. “I personally believe that we will have Anton Gavel here as coach next year.”
This relaxation gave way when, as in game four, Bayern suddenly failed at all and the Berlin team caught up point by point. Seven minutes before the end, Alba even took the lead (67:66). There was a tremor in the finish – with the better end for Berlin.
