basketball
BBL Cup: Dominant Bayern defend title
Serge Ibaka (2nd from right) and Bayern won the cup final against Ulm. photo
© Daniel Löb/dpa
The Bayern basketball players won their first title of the season. Munich are the dominant team on the cup weekend. A newcomer and a world champion shine.
In front of 6,500 spectators, including world champion captain Dennis Schröder, Sylvain Francisco was the best scorer for Munich with 17 points.
In the semi-finals the day before, Bayern easily defeated Bamberg Baskets 81:62 (48:32). Ulm had to fight much harder in the second semi-final to defeat Alba Berlin 87:79 (42:40).
“I came here to see good basketball. The level of German basketball has risen significantly in recent years,” said Schröder on BR television at halftime. The NBA professional used the all-star break in the USA to visit home.
Ulm gets off to a furious start
And Schröder got to see some good basketball in the final. The Ulm team got off to a furious start. The champions quickly moved ahead to 8-1 and hardly allowed Bayern to develop their aggressive defense. Ulm’s coach Anton Gavel had clearly given the role of favorite to Munich before the game. “No team has managed to beat Munich in the last twelve league games. So it will be a fight and we have to accept it,” said Gavel.
And his players took up the fight from the first second. Driven by the strong LJ Figueroa, Ulm won the first ten minutes 19:8. Bayern’s star coach Pablo Laso appeared a bit perplexed on the sidelines in view of Ulm’s strong performance.
Bayern were stronger from the second quarter onwards
But during the quarter break the Spaniard seemed to have found the right words. Because Bayern now improved significantly, especially point guard Sylvain Francisco was now turning up the heat. Ulm remained without a point for four minutes, Vladimir Lucic gave Bayern the lead for the first time at 20:18.
At halftime, the Munich team had finally turned the game around and were ahead by seven points (35:28). “We started nervously, but finally showed the necessary aggressiveness in the second quarter,” said Bayern President Herbert Hainer, who preferred the basketball top four to a trip to the footballers’ game in Bochum.
After the break, Bayern pulled ahead by double digits for the first time (39:28), but Ulm didn’t give up and came back within four points (46:42). But then world champion Andreas Obst was there and with two three-pointers set the course for the hosts to finally win. In the final quarter, Bayern continually increased their lead – the rest was red and white celebration.