The FC Bayern Basketballer have gotten themselves into a great position. On Wednesday they kept calm in front of 14,000 fans in Berlin and won Game 2 by a score of 82-77. Despite the debates during the game and the correspondingly heated atmosphere, the team of coach Dejan Radonjic showed a mature team performance, and Devin Booker with his dunk show and 16 points plus four offensive rebounds stood out.
Thus the defending champion has the first of three chances to win the best-of-five-series against Alba in Game 3 on Sunday (23.6.). The showdown starts at 18:00 in the Audi Dome, which is sold out with 6,500 spectators. This time, the game will also be broadcast on free TV by Sport1, MagentaSport and FC Bayern TV will go live as always a quarter of an hour before tip-off.
Best values for Munich defense
The Bavarians know that there is still a long way to go until the decisive third victory and that the Berliners have enough quality and fighting spirit to win in Munich. "Many may think that something has already been decided, but it's still very dangerous," warns coach Radonjic. "Alba has played superbly throughout the season, we have to do our best against them once again."
Also record player Nihad Djedovic recommends "to forget the game in Berlin quickly, because it is only 2-0 and we have to prepare and play as if it were our last chance". Managing director Marko Pesic also warns: "If we and our fans now think it's 2-0 and everything is already over, we not have a good experience. Alba is a team that will fight for its life."
In addition to their individual qualities and enormous team spirit, the Munich team can obviously rely on their defense: 107, 98, 100, 100, 79, 100 - that was Alba's score in the playoffs up to the finals, on average 97.3 points. In the final against the FCBB they scored 70 and 77 points (73,5 ppg). The best defense in the league (76 points given up on average in the main round) only collected 74.8 points on average in the playoffs against Braunschweig and Vechta.
The Munich defense was particularly effective with its movable assets such as Djedovic or Leon Radosevic on Wednesday evening in Berlin against Alba playmaker Peyton Siva (17.3 ppg in playoffs, seven points in game 2), Luke Sikma (10.3 ppg) and Martin Hermannsson (14.6 ppg).
If another balanced performance is achieved, the chances of defending the FCBB title for the first time since 1954/1955 are at least not bad. For the Bavarians, it would be the fifth title after the other BBL Championships in 2014 and 2018. Alba Berlin has been waiting for their ninth championship since 2008.