Alba Berlin’s basketball players start the DBBL playoffs on Thursday. With the new self-confidence of a cup winner, Alba wants to go on a run that goes beyond the quarter-finals against Osnabrück.
- On Thursday Alba starts the playoffs with home advantage against Osnabrück
- In the race for the championship, Alba is just an outsider
- Favorites are Keltern and Saarlouis
- Alba’s cup victory gave Berlin new self-confidence
- The strong national player Alina Hartmann will be an important factor
The basketball players from Alba Berlin barely had it last weekend won their home game against HerneOsnabrück came into focus. The victory on the light brown parquet of the Sömmeringhalle was almost forgotten when Alba’s trainer and those in charge put their heads together whispering in the VIP area. Home game dates were discussed and rail connections to Lower Saxony were researched. The playoffs cast their shadow ahead.
Alba women as outsiders in the title race
Already on Thursday evening (7:30 p.m.) the shadow of the playoffs will become the spotlight. Alba Berlin Basketball players will naturally be in focus when they host the Girolive Panthers Osnabrück in the Sömmeringhalle at home for the first game of their best-of-three quarter-final series. There, Alba wants to lay the foundation for what will at best be a surprisingly successful playoff run.
After the Berliners were one of the favorites in the title fight last season, they are now clearly the outsiders there. Not without a chance, but not as highly talented and highly praised as the main round winners from Keltern and their pursuers from Saarlouis. The Berliners have had a consistently inconsistent season so far – but their cup win at the beginning of the month gave them new confidence.
Osnabrück is ahead of Alba this season
In the quarter-finals against Osnabrück, the confidence of Alba’s players would have been relatively high even without winning the cup title. After a failed journey to the first game of the season in Lower Saxony, Alba celebrated two clear victories in the two meetings that actually took place. Both times Alba impressed offensively and consistently stifled the Panthers’ rhythm defensively.
Alba coach Cristo Cabrera
I expect very close games with a lot of physicality and intensity from Osnabrück. We have to be ready for that.
Nevertheless, coach Cristo Cabrera warns in the run-up to the start of the quarter-finals about the opponent that awaits Alba there. “I expect very close games with a lot of physicality and intensity from Osnabrück,” says the Spaniard, “we have to be ready for that.” What is a basic requirement for success in the playoffs was not always the case for Alba this season.
Alina Hartmann as key in a mixed season
The fact that the Berliners didn’t always have the necessary concentration and consistency on the floor physically and mentally is one of the reasons for the very mixed main round balance of twelve wins and ten defeats. In addition, Alba’s style of play is now well known in the league. The fact that Alba’s team structure had to be reorganized after important departures last summer – especially that of Maggie Mulligan – also became a noticeable negative factor.
Just as, on the other hand, the signing of Alina Hartmann became a positive factor in Alba’s seasonal equation. The German international joined the Berlin team around the turn of the year. “The team had already experienced a lot,” says Hartmann three months later. Three months in which Alba once again experienced an upswing. Six wins in nine league games, plus the cup title including the two wins against Saarlouis and Keltern.
Alba Berlin’s national player Alina Hartmann | Image: IMAGO/camera4+
The cup victory as a reminder of your own strength
“We haven’t always been able to do what we’re capable of this season,” says Hartmann, “but we have in the most important moments.” The importance attributed to Alba’s cup victory is correspondingly great. A title that is already making the season a success. A title whose creation gives strength for the playoffs full of those “most important moments” that Hartmann talks about. “We showed what we are capable of,” says the 30-year-old.
In other words: If Alba plays the way Alba wants to play, the Berliners can beat Keltern and Saarlouis. Builder Deeshyra Thomas then cleverly dictates the tempo and Tessa Stammberger does a bit of everything offensively. Abby Muse and Emily Kiser score points near the ring, while Alina Hartmann, Jo Raflo and Lena Gohlisch hit trend-setting threes. If all of this comes together, Alba will be difficult to beat and capable of winning titles.
However, if it doesn’t do that, Alba will lose – like in Freiburg a week and a half ago – to the bottom of the table. And because Osnabrück didn’t come bottom of the table in the main round, but came fourth, Alba can’t afford any major offensive droughts in the quarter-finals. Not to mention a possible semi-final series against Keltern.
Alba still has home advantage in the quarter-finals
Although Berliners don’t want to think that far ahead anyway. “From now on we’ll look from day to day,” says Alina Hartmann. Instead of announcing overarching playoff goals, the focus is on quarterfinal number one on Thursday. At least there, Alba will benefit from one factor that remains unaffected by any ups and downs: the home advantage. This helped Alba win the Top4 Cup and against Herne last Saturday around 2,000 fans were once again sitting in the stands of the Sömmeringhalle on the edge of the spotlight.
Broadcast: rbb24, March 31, 2026, 9:45 p.m
Video: rbb24, March 31, 2026, Max Benz-Kuch
