BBL: Champion! Bavaria takes the crown against Alba

FC Bayern Munich is BBL Champion 2018! In a surprisingly clear game 5 of the finals, Munich’s Alba beat Berlin 106:85 and thus also secured the championship after the cup.

For the first time since 2015, there was a fifth match in the BBL finals and there was a corresponding crackle around the Munich Audi Dome before the match. About 700 Alba fans had travelled with us, so both teams had loud support at the last and decisive game of the season.

The hosts got off to a better start thanks to Danilo Barthel, who took an 11-6 lead by three and And-1, and Albas Dennis Clifford also took the second foul early on. Devin Booker was also in the game right from the start and took the Bavarians’ first double-digit lead (19:8) a few minutes later with a crashing dunk – the hall was boiling, the Berliners weren’t even in the game at that time. Niels Giffey gave Alba short hope with two threes, but the Bavarians responded immediately – 32:19 after the first quarter.

It went on similarly, the Berliners could not significantly reduce the deficit in the second quarter at first. Jared Cunningham provided the biggest highlight of this phase with an impressive poster-dunk over Clifford, after that the Bavarians also ran really hot from downtown and suddenly even led with 22 points. The break was 58:39 for the hosts.

The Berliners opened the third quarter with a clear improvement and were even able to reduce their lead to 11 points in the meantime, but at first they couldn’t go any further, even though Bavaria lost the offensive rhythm a bit and on the other hand Spencer Butterfield came into play better and better. It got heated for a moment when Alba-Guard Akeem Vargas committed an unsportsmanlike foul, then the Bavarians took control again and after a Booker-Layup it was again 21 points 1:41 minutes before the quarter break.

After Nihad Djedovic set the score at 86:61 with the siren in a threesome, the last doubts were cleared up. The entire last quarter thus turned into one big party at the Audi Dome.

The top scorer of the game was Butterfield with 29 points, Giffey on 13, Peyton Siva on 12 and Sikma on 10 points. Djedovic was the best scorer in Munich with 19 points, Cunningham 16 points, Booker 14 points, Vladimir Lucic and Barthel 12 points and Reggie Redding 11 points.

Thanks to this success, the Bavarians, who will be able to take part in the EuroLeague next season, were able to secure their second championship since their reign. The last time they won the title was in 2014. Alba last won a championship in 2008.

FC Bayern vs. Alba Berlin 106:85, Series 3:2

Many players were very positive with the Bavarians, as usual with such a blowout. However, Djedovic was awarded the contract because his accuracy made him stand out from this strong collective (7/9 FG). His threesome at the end of the third quarter also destroyed the very last comeback hopes of the Berliners, if they still existed.

It’s not at all easy to highlight someone, because many players in Berlin remained below their capabilities, but of course Sikma is normally expected to do a lot more. The forward, however, could not make his mark on this game either and sometimes acted much too passively, even though he could still make his numbers look a bit better in the phase when the game had already been decided.

As with most of the series, Barthel primarily defended Sikma and initially made it great – in the first quarter the league MVP remained completely invisible. At the beginning of the second quarter Zirbes got this task and Sikma had two good actions (2 points and 1 assist) – so Barthel came back immediately and promptly dedicated himself again to this matchup, whereupon Sikma was quickly deregistered. Barthel’s great defense against Sikma was certainly one of the main reasons Bavaria won this game and series.

Dejan Radonjic (coach FC Bayern): “It was hard playoffs, today we thank everyone who helped, from the president to the fans. Respect to Alba, they played an excellent season and made it very difficult for us.”