Bavaria's opponent in the final is certain: Alba Berlin won the third game of their series against Oldenburg, with a 100-89 away win and it sets up another matchup against the newly formed rivals.. Despite the home advantage of Niedersachsen, the runner-up also swept their series. Both teams can enter the attractive best-of-five series without any pressure to succeed siince FC Bayern Basketball is set for the new EuroLeague season and Alba, as a finalist, also has the right to start in the premier class.
"We are looking forward to the next duel with a strong Berlin team that has played another excellent season. It will certainly be an exciting and tough series, but we will be prepared for it," says Bayern coach Dejan Radonjic.
FCBB vs. ALBA, THE FIGURES
Finals and titles: While the Bavarians are in the final series for the fourth time, the EuroCup finalists are in their 17th final. The Berliners have already won the championship eight times; the last title over a decade ago (2008). The Munich team won the national title in 1954 and 1955 and, after their BBL return, in 2014 and 2018.
The Bavarians have already met Berlin five times in playoff series and they won every time. In 2013 they won 3-0 in the quarter finals, in the following year they celebrated the decisive 3-1 to clinch their first BBL title. The semi-final in 2015 also had a happy ending (3-2), as did the quarter-final in 2017 (3-1) - and the final in 2018, when they triumphed in the fifth game in the Audi Dome 106-85.
Previous matchups:
2013, Quarter finals - 3-1 for the FCBB
2014, Finals - 3-1 for the FCBB
2015, semi-finals - 3-2 for the FCBB
2017, Quarterfinals - 3-1 for the FCBB
2018, Finals - 3-2 for the FCBB
Cup duels and overall result:
In the German Cup Alba celebrated a Finals victory against the Bavarians in the final of the TOP4 2016 (67-65). In 2018 the FCBB returned the favour in the cup final (80-75). Also this season Berlin won before Christmas in the cup duel in the quarter finals in Munich (78-70) - the only home loss of the champion against a German team in the regular season.
In the BBL competitions, the record is 25-19 for Bavaria (plus one win and one draw in the 2016 EuroCup round of sixteen). This season they won both games of the regular season against Berlin. Once again the Munich team has the home advantage over Alba as winner of the regular season.
The first finals matchup:
When the Bavarians receive their rivals in the Audi Dome on Sunday (June 16th) at 18:00 they will already know about the strength of their opponent because of the cup loss in December. Berlin was already able to steal the first game in the Audi Dome in the final series of 2018 and thus the Munich home advantage, with a 106-95 win. Afterwards the Bavarians fought back on the road (96-69), before they took the lead in the Audi Dome with a 72-66 victory in the series, were defeated by Berlin again at home (72-68) and then showed their probably best performance of the season in the final (106-85).
The playoff final 2019 against Alba Berlin (Best-of-Five):
Final 1: Sunday, June 16th, 18:00 (Audi Dome)
Final 2: Wednesday, June 19th 20:30
Final 3: Sunday, June 23rd 18:00 (Audi Dome)
Finale 4: Tuesday, June 25th 20:30
Final 5: Friday, June 28th 20:30 (Audi Dome)*
*=if necessary