In the last few weeks, the big wide smiles of Mr FC Bayern Munich legend Uli Hoeness  who had been as tame as a kitten in interviews and appearance recently  and German national player blond sunny boy Bastian Schweinsteiger had been all over the TV with the only thing missing being the two making a follow up video duet to the comical, but authentic video greeting that FC Bayern Munich soccer player Dante had made following the cup win. But in the waning minutes of game five in Bamberg, the happy and gregarious complexions of both who were in the Stechert arena had taken a severe nose dive into the Bamberg  Regnitz river as Bamberg were leading easily by 16 points and the only one who was flashing that typical winner Bamberg smile was Mr Bamberg Wolfgang Heyder who probably hadn´t enjoyed the last few minutes as much since years despite all the success they have had, but to slam the door so obnoxiously into Germanys most famous sports team in the last quarter must have been like winning the final before the final. Even if Bamberg didn´t get to the series like usual stomping over their opponents as if they were helpless gnats being suffocated by the breathing of Nathan Jawai on a hot summer day in New South Wales, but in the end the Brose Baskets Bamberg are back where they belong in the Beko BBL final for the fourth year in a row.

The Brose Baskets Bamberg really had their hands full with FC Bayern Munich having to go the distance having to win in their own living room. After an embarrassing 98-85 loss in game one at home, they rebounded well winning the next two games to take a 2-1 lead in the series.  However instead of closing out the series in Munich where they were controlling the game and leading 69-63 with 4.14 to play, they totally collapsed in crunch time letting FC Bayern Munich finish out the game on a 17-2 run as Tyrese Rice gave the clutch a new name as he hit two deep big three pointers as they tied the series 2-2. In game five, fans in Bamberg saw a very exciting and tight game in the first half as the game was dead locked at 40-40 at halftime. In the second half, the Brose Baskets Bamberg shifted up a few gears on defense and took a big lead where FC Bayern Munich couldn´t react. Bamberg finally was hitting shots, while FC Bayern Munich was being held to very tough shots and they shot dreadfully from outside at 33,3%. Bamberg won 85-66. Ex NBA player Bostjan Nachbar hit two giant three pointers  ultimately sealing the fate of FC Bayern Munich. After averaging giving up 85 points in the first four games, the Brose Baskets Bamberg finally clamped down and played their typical aggressive defense holding Munich to 26 points in the second half.  Bamberg also did a good job controlling the boards 43-37 and their 23-8 assist rate speaks volumes demonstrating their healthy mix of successful offense and defense.

The last time the EWE Baskets Oldenburg were in the Beko BBL final Chris Kramer  was finishing up his junior year at Purdue, Lebron James friend Dru Joyce was finishing up his second professional season with ratiopharm Ulm placing second again in the assist ranking, Adam Chubb was with Alba Berlin and won his second cup title in a row and Konrad Wysocki and Dominik Bahiense De Mello were with Frankfurt and lost in the quarterfinals to Oldenburg. The only current Oldenburg player that was on the floor now celebrating the 2009 Beko BBL game five win against Bonn was Mr Oldenburg for life and 2004 NBA draft pick Rickey Paulding. Paulding will have that chance again to play in a Beko BBL finals and one thing that the Detroit native will have in the back of his mind is the fact that he departed the floor in the 2009 semi finals flashing a big smile while rookie Bamberg head coach Chris Fleming left with a sullen face as Oldenburg swept Bamberg.  Paulding has a 3-1 record in playoff game 5 series only losing to Alba Berlin in 2011 where current teammate Julius Jenkins was an opponent. Paulding now has a very motivated Jenkins on his team who is in the game shape of his life and playing against his ex team Bamberg.

The EWE Baskets Oldenburg had their second five game series and actually could of wrapped up the series quite rapidly on May 29^th and had a week of recovery time had they not lost game one at home 86-84. Oldenburg had some fortune in game two as German national player Per Guenther went down with an injury playing only two minutes in game two and missing game three and game four. Oldenburg won game two and game three keeping ratiopharm Ulm to 59 points and taking a commanding 2-1 game lead. Ratiopharm Ulm at the brink of summer vacation won  a hard fought game four battle despite an Oldenburg comeback and 29 points from Julius Jenkins to force a game five 81-79. In game five, Oldenburg was more clever in crunch time as Dru Joyce hit big free throws, Rickey Paulding a big three pointer and taking advantage of a  key John Bryant turnover. The key in the series was the big play of Julius Jenkins who could have MVP as his middle name as he has been MVP at the 2008 Beko BBL all star game and playoff finals and 2009 cup final four. Jenkins was Oldenburg top scorer in every game and averaged 21 points in the series. Jenkins clearly out MVPed 2012and 2013 Beko BBL MVP John Bryant who only had five points in game five. Bryant may be big country, but Jenkins was clearly more big than the California native who did average 10 rebounds in the five game series.

With so many top teams this season in the Beko BBL, in the end there was no surprises entering the final as the top two teams Bamberg and Oldenburg will meet for the championship. Before the season, many experts had Oldenburg as a team that could challenge Bamberg for the championship and here they are. Bamberg have a small edge on paper and did win both regular season games, but by only a combined total of 13 points. Oldenburg lost the first meeting at home 75-68. It was a very tight game for 30 minutes, but Bamberg then tightened up the defense in the fourth quarter holding Oldenburg to nine points while shooting  49% from the field and 50% from outside. In Bamberg, the fans saw a high scoring shoot out as Oldenburg lost 94-88. Ex Bamberg forward Jeremiah Massey had a huge game scoring 18 points and hitting some big shots early in the fourth quarter helping Bamberg gain control of the game. The key match up in the finals will be Julius Jenkins against Anton Gavel. Jenkins played like an MVP in the Ulm series and is hot at the moment while Anton Gavel also had a typical strong series against FC Bayern Munich and is often the guy that gets his team going when they are going through tough phases of a game. Oldenburg has  a chance in this series. Bamberg are more vulnerable then ever as teams really have felt that they can beat them this season. Oldenburg might have has two tough five game series in their bones, but they are as focused as ever to win that second club title. This is a series that also will go four or five games. Oldenburg has defended very well this season and will need to keep that balance between the Bamberg snipers and their inside beasts of Ford, Zirbes and Neumann.  Bamberg has to be careful not give away a game at home. Bamberg needs to keep that guard tandem of Joyce/Kramer  wrapped up and close the paint on Adam Chubb. Paulding could also be an extra deciding factor in this series. It has been a while since he tasted title champagne and his big shoots could make a difference as he shot 48% against Ulm and 42,6% from the parking lot in the playoffs so far. The series poses two of the leagues most professional players with Casey Jacobsen and Rickey Paulding. Only a shame that one of them will go home without hardware.  Jenkins may have exploded in the Ulm series showing that Tyrese Rice effect and go to guy mentality, but he wont finish off Bamberg alone in this series. He will need much support, but if Oldenburg will be able to tip toe around the Bamberg pressure defense and play successful structured offense is the question. Bamberg will be too much in a  four/five game series and win with their experience and home court advantage. Bamberg might have lost some routine and more games than usual in the last two seasons, but one thing is for sure, teams still need to be on top of their game for 40 minutes and that is something Oldenburg will have to do consistently in each game to have success.