Brose Baskets Bamberg – Alba Berlin 72-65 (29:30)

For the third consecutive time the BBL finals saw a game 5 – and for the third consecutive time the hosts could take advantage of the home-court advantage. After trailing for most of the second half Bamberg played their best basketball when it all came down to the last few minutes.

Congratulations to the Brose Baskets Bamberg and coach Fleming who formed a group of great individual talent to a team that set standards in playing with enthusiasm, discipline and unselfishness.

Alba Berlin finished the season in second place. But after a season full of ups and downs, the departure of former head-coach Luka Pavicevic and the integration of two new playmakers in February Alba can be proud of winning decisive games 5 (in the quarterfinals against Oldenburg, in the semis against Frankfurt) and giving Bamberg a really tough game 5 in the finals.

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Did Bamberg’s team want to celebrate the championship on their home court?

Or what exactly happened to the most dominant team of the Beko BBL in game 4 of the finals?

With a win coach Fleming’s team could have won the BBL championship. But with their backs to the wall Alba Berlin handed Bamberg their biggest loss of the season (87-67) and showed that you just cannot count out the team from the capitol city.

After a nice start Bamberg was in front with 12-21. But it took only a few minutes for Alba to go on a 16-2 run and take the lead. The momentum had changed with Alba’s nice zone defense and Bamberg’s inability to find a way to score on a regular basis. On the other side of the court Berlin found good ways to create mismatches against Bamberg’s zone as they moved the ball very well. Often wing players like Casey Jacobsen ended up defending in the paint and Alba took advantage with their big men.

A prime example for Berlin’s strength today was the Bamberg’s last possession in the first half. Brian Roberts tried to go hard to the basket but Alba responded with a nice defensive rotation that made Julius Jenkins block the lay-up. Then with some seconds left Alba passed the ball nicely to Bryce Taylor, who faked a shot and then made a buzzer three pointer right on time. At the half Alba led by 7 (44-37).

At the beginning of the second half Tadija Dragicevic replaced Derrick Allen and had some nice scenes offensively. Alba constantly led by 4-8 points at this stage of the gameand even if Bamberg managed to have some successful situations offensively, the team simply forgot to box out defensively.

It really felt like Alba Berlin could easily grab offensive rebounds whenever they missed a shot. German national player Yassin Idbihi did a great job getting 4 of the team’s 11 offensive boards. It is often said that good rebounding is a question of dedication.

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Brose Baskets Bamberg – Alba Berlin 90-74 (53:35)

Before the game started the most interesting question probably was how Bamberg could compensate the loss of starting point guard John Goldsberry.  In game one the 29-year old american had a very unfortunate collision with Berlin’s Bryce Taylor and suffered a pulled ligament in his right ankle. Goldsberry may not have the flashiest numbers (4.3 points, 4.0 assists in 23 minutes per game), but he is probably the most important player in coach Fleming’s system.

After the first five minutes of game 2 no one really seemed to be missing Goldsberry as Bamberg started off brilliantly and took a commanding 2:18 lead. In front of 12.000 spectators in Berlin’s O2 World it looked like a really bad blow-out was in the making. Alba Berlin showed more than just once this post season that now and then the team falls apart and takes something like a 4-5 minute time-out while they are not getting anything done defensively and offensively. One may call it fortunate that this time they started the game with a bad run, because there was a lot of time left to get back into the game. And Alba is probably the only team in the Beko BBL to be able to overcome such a huge deficit against Bamberg.

Late in the first quarter Alba mainly tried to get close to the basket and get some easy points. This resulted in fouls and free throws for Katzurin’s team. But still Bamberg finished the first quarter with a huge 14:28 lead.

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For almost three quarters game 1 of this year’s Beko BBL final was very competitive and close. Both teams showed that they are the best in the country this season and deserve to be in the finals.

But late in the third quarter Bamberg was able to step up defensively and turn a 52:53 into a 74:60.

It was their 25th consecutive home game victory in the BBL this season.

Bamberg was led by Kyle Hines (15 p/6 r/ 4 bl.), Casey Jacobsen (15) and Brian Roberts (14).

Derrick Allen was Alba’s best scorer with 13 points, but his +/- stats looked poor with -17! Bryce Taylor had a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.Offensively Berlin certainly missed some production by Julius Jenkins and Immanuel McElroy. Combined they made just 3 points (compared to the usual 24 point average)and shot 1/6 from the field.

While McElroy looks tired and is probably injury plagued, Jenkins just needs to step up his game.

Even though Bamberg won game one the game ended rather unfortunately for the franconian team. In the last few seconds of the game John Goldsberry went to the ground and looked injured. It is still not clear if he is healthy enough to play the next games.

Brose Baskets Bamberg – Alba Berlin 90-76

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Revenge and long term absence that Alba Berlin is currently suffering can be a very dangerous and uncomfortable experience for any opponent in the beko BBL as Oldenburg and The Deutsche Bank Skyliners recently had to witness in the last weeks, but now they will take this increased stress of the past into the Brose Baskets Bamberg series in the 2011 beko BBl final. Alba Berlin hasn´t been in the beko BBl final since 2008, which might not seem like a long time to a neutral bystander, but for CEO Marco Baldi, it probably seems like an eternity and as horrible as Harry Potter fans seeing the end of the story becoming a reality, George Bush haters not getting the total satisfaction of the ex President getting hit by an errand foul ball at a Texas Rangers-Chicago White Sox game or ex Skyliner coach Murat Didin having to witness and come to terms with being seen by some as a Danny Devito doppelganger. On top of not tasting champagne in three years, the team not only lost the season series to Bamberg, but were drilled on the side of their heads in Bamberg being humiliated 103-52 and the only thing missing was the team departing the arena with bags over their heads. With FC Bayern Munich entering the beko BBL stage next season and ready to rumble with the top teams and Brose Baskets Bamberg being the top team at the moment, Alba Berlin doesn´t want to slide further away from the top and will be as motivated to seek revenge as Dirk Nowitzki had for the game one loss to the Miami Heat taking crunch time in game two into his own hands and scoring the last seven Mavericks points to win game two 95-93, Big Loser contestants in the American TV show impressing new drill sergeant ex tennis goddess Anna Kurnikowa or Paris Hilton trying to upend her party girl image each day with worthy causes. The Brose Baskets Bamberg host Alba Berlin in game one Sunday as both teams enter the finals with long five game series, but Alba Berlin possibly having more momentum coming in having won all three games in Frankfurt and remembering the big 103-52 loss. “Alba Berlin showed that they played with a lot of confidence on the road. They might of had a long series against Frankfurt, but I don´t think they are tired, because they have a long bench. They aren´t tired yet and will have momentum going in. That 51 point loss will still be in their heads. I believe that Alba Berlin will come out with a lot of energy”, stressed Artland Dragon guard Bryan Bailey. The Brose Baskets Bamberg only lost two games all season and had a huge advantage over most of the other 17 BEKO BBL teams in that they have kept a core of their team. This season Bamberg has kept many teams off guard with not just one style of play. “We can play a multitude of different styles. We have players on our roster that can do everything. The style we play depends on our opponent and style of game they play. We will always be able to tailor our game to match the opponent”, added Bamberg forward Kyle Hines.

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