The FC Bayern basketball team will face Crailsheim in the first round of the BBL playoffs. This was determined after Oldenburg's win in their make-up game against Goettingen, which meant that the Baskets finished regular season in third place ahead of Munich and Crailsheim rather than in fifth. The first two quarterfinal games of the best-of-five series will take place at the Audi Dome, on Wednesday, May 19 (20:30), and Friday, May 21 (19:00). Game three in Crailsheim follows on Whitsunday (May 23, 18:00). Before the playoffs, Bayern will still be fighting for the German Cup at this weekend's Top Four at the Audi Dome with a semifinal against Ulm (Saturday, 16:00).
The playoffs for the 2021 German championship will be played in a 2-2-1 format for the first time. That means a fourth game would also be played in Crailsheim, with a potentially decisive fifth game again at Munich. In general, the games will be played in a demanding two-day rhythm. The new champion is to be determined by Tuesday, June 15 at the latest, which would mean a maximum of 15 games in 27 days.
The Merlins are in the playoffs for the first time
The other playoff duels are Ludwigsburg (1st) - Bamberg (8th), Berlin (2nd) - Hamburg (7th) and Oldenburg (3rd) - Ulm (6th). The winner of the Bayern/Crailsheim duel will meet the winner of the Ludwigsburg series in the semifinals.
For Crailsheim it is the first playoff participation in their history.Last season they had the playoffs in sight as a surprise third-place team after 21 games before the season was canceled. In the 2020/21 regular season, the team of outgoing coach Tuomas Iisalo won 24 of 34 games, as did Bayern. This season, the two teams have already met three times: in the Audi Dome, the guests were able to win in over time (105-103), the return games in Crailsheim was decided by the FCBB (79-74), as was the cup duel at the beginning of the season (80-63).