basketball
Hard test for Alba – Exciting southern duel for Bavaria
The Bayern coach and his team are clear favourites against Würzburg. Photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
The basketball players of Alba Berlin have been a mystery for a long time this season. But now the team seems ready for big things. The dream final is getting closer.
It was a completely unfamiliar situation for the basketball players of Alba Berlin. After months of scheduling matches in the Bundesliga and the Euroleague every two days, the Berliners suddenly had a week off. After the three quarter-final victories against the Telekom Baskets Bonn, world champion Johannes Thiemann and co. were able to watch from the comfort of their couch which teams followed them into the semi-finals and, above all, who they themselves would face in the fight for a place in the final.
“The time has really helped the players who were coming back from injuries to get back into better shape. Others were able to recover because they were very tired. Now everyone is more or less in the same condition,” said Alba coach Israel Gonzalez before the first semi-final against the Niners Chemnitz on Tuesday (8.30 p.m./Dyn). The winner of the Fiba Europe Cup prevailed in four hard-fought matches against Rasta Vechta.
Alba is heading into the semifinals well rested and with a lot of self-confidence. After all, the team from the capital has not let the many defeats in the Euroleague, which Alba finished last in the table, and many injuries deter them from their course. “All of these difficulties that we had to endure during the season have helped us to grow together as a team,” said Gonzalez. And Thiemann is certain ahead of the Chemnitz series: “We are the better team.”
Alba has already shown this in the two duels of the regular season, both of which went to the Berlin team. “Of course it’s good to know that you can win against a team that plays as physically as they do,” said Thiemann, who is expecting a tough fight. “You can’t expect them to slow down in the playoffs now,” said the center about the Chemnitz team, which led the league for a long time and stood up to the top favorites Alba and Bayern.
Will Alba and Bayern meet again in the final round?
But after 34 match days, Bayern and Alba were again in the lead – and much points to a final series between the two top teams. Because like Alba, the Munich team will also be the favorites in the semi-final series against the surprise team of the Würzburg Baskets starting on Wednesday (8.30 p.m./Dyn).
Bayern made a surprising mistake at the start of the quarter-finals against the MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, but ultimately prevailed with ease. “Perhaps it was a wake-up call at the right time,” said World Cup hero Andreas Obst.
Against Würzburg, Bayern will need their full focus again, even though the Franconians are going into the series with a severe handicap. Point guard Otis Livingston II, who was named the most valuable player of the season (MVP) after an outstanding regular season, tore the medial ligament in his knee at the start of the series against defending champion ratiopharm Ulm and will be out until the end of the season. Nevertheless, Würzburg found a way to prevail against Ulm.
Bayern’s star coach Pablo Laso is therefore warning his team. “We have to be ready,” said the Spaniard, for whom it was only a successful first season in Germany if the championship title was also won after the cup win. “It speaks for the Würzburg team that they prevailed without the MVP.”