So it will be nothing with the title hat trick for Bayern. The Munich basketball team surprisingly lost to Oldenburg on Sunday. Now they face a hammer duel in the quarter-finals. However, two other teams showed no weaknesses at the weekend.
Munich (dpa) - Alba Berlin is strong as a bear, ratiopharm Ulm has so far shown no weakness - only FC Bayern is far from the master form at the final tournament of the basketball Bundesliga.
The defending champion lost his last game of the preliminary round against EWE Baskets Oldenburg with 81:89 (44:42) on Sunday evening and is thus facing a difficult task in the quarter-finals. The team of coach Oliver Kostic afforded an astonishing drop in performance in the empty Audi Dome. So the hosts should have little chance of the desired title hat-trick.
"That was not a good idea," said veteran Vladimir Lucic, the best Munich pitcher at Magentasport with 16 points. "We had a good phase, but when we were five or six points behind, it felt like the game was over." The Oldenburgs around the two former Munich Braydon Hobbs and Robin Amaize benefited above all from many offensive rebounds and were allowed to cheer. Top scorer was Nathan Boothe with 17 points.
The Lower Saxony are thus avoiding the form-strong Berliners and MHP giants Ludwigsburg at the start of the playoffs - the two previously unbeaten teams of Group B will face each other on Monday. Alba had outclassed Rasta Vechta 102: 72 on Saturday. If the captains lose to Ludwigsburg, the quarter-finals will see FC Bayern against Alba Berlin again.
Ulm closed an impressive preliminary round on Sunday with their fourth win in as many games. Jaka Lakovic's team prevailed against BG Göttingen with 89:66 (39:33). Because Ulm was already a group winner before the start of the game and Göttingen was fourth in the table, the encounter had only limited sporting value. "The most important thing was to do it with the right attitude and motivation," said Lakovic at Magentasport, praising: "The boys have shown character."
With 16 points, Thomas Klepeisz was the best thrower in Ulm. Alex Ruoff scored the most for Lower Saxony with 18 points.
Ulm will meet fourth in Group B in the quarterfinals. Whoever will be, will choose between Bamberg, Vechta and Frankfurt on Monday. The nine-time champion Brose Bamberg has a good chance of becoming third in the table with a victory over Vechta and thus avoiding the Ulm team. Upper Franconia had defeated the Frankfurt Skyliners on Saturday with 99:83.
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