German Basketball League - Warning to Bayern's basketball players about Alba - "Potential risks remain"
The players from FC Bayern are the favorites in the playoff final as they gear up against Alba Berlin. The Berliners, on the other hand, will start the championship series with just one day of regeneration and have some injury concerns. Nonetheless, Munich's team members are being careful before their match against Germany's top basketball teams.
World champion Andreas Obst warned before the first game on Saturday (8:30 pm/Dyn) that Alba is a strong team that has caused them problems in the past. "But that's a team that works well and always hurts us. We have to be ready as a team," Obst stated before the match.
In the Bundesliga semifinals, Alba Berlin needed five games to beat Chemnitz. As a result, they only have less than 48 hours to prepare for their first duel against the Munich team. Obst admired their win and felt it could create a great sense of unity for the opposing team. Bayern's experienced coach Pablo Laso noted that a team in the flow tends to play better due to a faster rhythm. The Bayern squad had a 3:0 victory in the semi-final series against Würzburg, which gave them five extra days to prepare.
Over the course of the season, Bayern had won three out of four games against Alba in the championship and the Euroleague. Some of those wins were convincing, but there was one exception when the Munich players failed in the last meaningless Bundesliga regular season game in Berlin and lost the victory.
Nevertheless, Bayern's NBA veteran Serge Ibaka cautioned that the past season games don't matter, stating, "Everything can happen." He also believes that Alba has changed since those games and has a new mindset. Ibaka, however, accidentally called the BBL final the NBA final during a press conference, which was quickly corrected by teammate and colleague Andreas Obst with a smile.
"That's the BBL final," Obst intervened.
