Finals it is! Bayern defeats Bonn

Finals!!!! The Bayern basketball team passed the test of nerves of a fifth playoff game in a foreign hall at the Telekom Baskets Bonn with flying colors, 87-74 (42:44). The team of head coach Andrea Trinchieri after 40 exciting minutes put away the series and move on to face Berlin in the Finals.

This means a rematch of the classic with Alba Berlin. The defending champions qualified early with two easy 3-0 sweeps against Bamberg and Ludwigsburg. 

Tickets for home games 

The Bavarians had last unexpectedly lost twice in front of their own crowd (86-84, 83-80) but also triumphed for the third time away from home in front of 6,000 fans in the completely sold-out Telekom Dome. For them, it is already the sixth participation in the final series for the German championship in the tenth playoff appearance since the BBL return in 2011.

Home game on Tuesday

A best-of-five series with alternating home advantage will start on Friday in Berlin (MagentaSport will be broadcasting live). Game 2 has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 14 (19:00), in Munich - advance sales are open! Second home game date for the Audi Dome would be Sunday, June 19, at 15:00. The two road games will again be broadcast on the video cube in the Audi Dome during a free public viewing.

Free Public Viewing

17:6 was the score after a concentrated starting quarter with two Djedovic threes and after a fourth three the lead grew to 22-8 (8th). Only through Jackson-Cartwright (20 of 25 points before the break) Bonn found its offense and even its first lead (31-30). After halftime the FCBB intensified its defensive work, dominated the boards (39-25) and went ahead again big 79-67 (34th). The Baskets scored mainly at the free-throw line - the guests around the very strong top scorer Nick Weiler-Babb (18) who left everything on the court in front of the eyes of Uli Hoeness. Club president Herbert Hainer also congratulated Coach Trinchieri on the phone immediately after the game. 

Points per quarter Bayern - Bonn: 24-16, 18-28, 27-17, 18-13

Stats: :Two-point shooting 71% (FCBB) // 48% (Bonn); Three-point shooting: 35% // 34%; Free-throw shooting: 75% // 79%; Rebounds:  39//25; Assists: 16//14; Turnovers: 7//5

Quotes:

FCBB head coach, Andrea Trinchieri: "What a great series, what basketball at a very high level! Both teams played a great series. I want to congratulate my players because after game two we lost twice at home - and I think 90 percent of the people were thinking: done, ciao, finito, goodbye and have a nice vacation. But we tried to focus on the next basketball game. We came here today against a strong opponent who is very well coached. I know how the feelings are now in the other booth and it won't change much: But I also want to congratulate Tuomas and the team for a great season and great basketball; a great opponent that fought until the end and we are only in the Finals because we had a very mature performance from the first quarter to the fourth quarter; we were very smart and did what was needed. After two bad games with offensive rebounding problems, we dominated the boards, with 39-25 rebounds. This is a team win and we are very happy.

Now we have to regenerate somehow before Friday, then it's against Alba. They are well recovered, they are the big favorite, have won 157 in a row, play great basketball and have already held up the German Cup. But we'll be there with what we've got and with a team that can suffer and wants to sacrifice itself for FC Bayern. Whereby we don't know who will play, because today we also had some injured players. For me, they are the clear favorite, but I would not want to trade my team for any other. (...)

When you make 80 games and you get old like me, you forget games, but I would say this is the best one because it's the last one until now. And it's a game that gives us the chance to play another final. And we deserve that because we had a very, very, very difficult season. Just thinking about the fact that our actual backcourt is in Munich and in therapy instead of playing - I know we only found solutions for that because of the desire of my players. Nobody complained and we created a new chemistry. (...)

Players sometimes forget the realities of the court: Bonn was second seed in the regular season, ahead of us in the standings. After our two away wins, we committed the great sin of thinking we had them in the bag. That was wrong. They were better than us in the fourth game. (...)

As I said, we made life more complicated for ourselves and now we have only 48 hours until the final. From tomorrow, we will only think about Berlin."

Tuomas Isalo, Chefcoach Bonn: "I had the feeling that we gave everything and in every game. Congratulations to Bayern. It was an incredible level today in a great atmosphere. They played great and deserved to win. Of course I'm proud of my team. We played a historic season."

Nihad Djedovic: "It was a series where the fans enjoyed good basketball. Every game was contested until the last second. Today we won the close game. We didn't say much after losing game four. We are all experienced players and we focused on our strengths. We knew we came into this series like underdogs. The series could have gone in a different direction. Fortunately, we are now in the final. We now have to regenerate a bit and then anything is possible against Berlin."

Andreas Obst: "We had two games that we didn't play as we had wanted. That's when we got outplayed a little bit by the opponent. But we were sure we could do better."

Game recap:

Nick Weiler-Babb, Nihad Djedovic, Vladimir Lucic, Augustine Rubit and Leon Radosevic were Andrea Trinchieri's choice for the first five. This one started very well for Bayern as befits a do-or-die game. Djedovic scored twice early from the three-point line, giving his team the stability it needed. Bonn, on the other hand, had trouble finding their offense and faced a double-digit deficit right away (17-6/5th). The Bavarians got off to an almost perfect start. From a solid defense, they put Lucic and Thomas in perfect positions to score. It was only towards the end of the first quarter that the hosts registered their presence in the game with two quick threes (24-16).

In the second quarter, Parker Jackson-Cartwright shouldered the entire offense on his narrow shoulders. Almost single-handedly, the MVP of the regular season (20 points in the first half) led his team back. Munich's rhythm, on the other hand, started to fade a bit (30-29/14th). Both Weiler-Babb and Hunter missed easyshots. Andi Obst took the pressure off the offense in this phase by converting two big threes within 30 seconds. But the Telekom Baskets were now fully awake and, despite a rough start, went into the break with a lead (44-42) thanks to a buzzer beater by Karsten Tadda.

Bayern comes out of the locker room with EuroLeague defense

In the second half, the guests managed to slow down the previously hectic pace and regain control. Again it was the three-point line that they provided security with buckets from Radosevic and Obst (56-51/25th). Othello Hunter also got better and better access under the basket, which he puctuated with two spectacular dunks. Tuomas Isalo's team, on the other hand, had to be content with difficult shots.  Bavaria won the third quarter 27-17 and gained some breathing space for the final quarter (69-61).

The final quarter began with an alley-oop from Bonn center Michael Kessens. Trinchieri's EuroLeague-hardened team, however, was not impressed. and With consistent defense, they kept the home side at bay - time-out Isalo (75-66/33rd). But the Bavarians also kept their composure on the offense and hit from middle distance with Lucic and Weiler-Babb. With a lot of effort, the hosts once again braced themselves against the impending end (79-72/37th). But the Munich team did not allow any more easy shots and thus robbed the hope of catching up. They allowed only 30 Bonn points in the second half and thus secured their entry into the Finals.

SCHEDULE

(c) FCBB, Stickel & Wolters