# ALBA will do it one more time!



## The_German_Wunderkid (Jan 29, 2003)

ALBA Berlin which has already won 6 consecutive championships is going to do it a seventh time!
Though being troubled because of many injured players they managed to pass the first two rounds of the playoffs winning each of their series 3:2 (against Frankfurt and Braunschweig)!
Now they find themselves back in the finals against Bamberg and won the first game 73:69!
Germany NT guard Marko Pesic burried the decisive 3-pointer 1:30 before the end! He had allready burried the decisive 3-pointer in the last game of the series against Braunschweig on thursday! After all he had broken his hand only about 3 weeks ago and is now playing again that well! It's incredible!


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## Zalgirinis (Feb 18, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>The_German_Wunderkid</b>!
> they managed to pass the first two rounds of the playoffs winning each of their series 3:2 (against Frankfurt and Braunschweig)!


Hmm 3-2. I never followed german basketball very accurately, but always thought that ALBA is the one and only team there, beating everybody 3-0 (well maybe Frankfurt last season was strong too). So my question is... Is ALBA's level going down or other teams has stepped up in German league?


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## The_German_Wunderkid (Jan 29, 2003)

In my opinion you have both kinds of development!
The level of the other teams in the German BBL is rising each year because basketball is getting more and more popular in Germany and so the teams are more attractive to sponors! With that new financial possibilities the other teams are able to sign good players and to hold their own good ones! That makes them more competitive!
On the other hand ALBA didn't find a good replacement for their US Forward Wendell ALexis (is he well known in the USA? he was great!) who didn't get a new contract for this season (He's about 38).
Last but no least ALBA has had so many injured players during the whole season and even now 3 out of their 5 German NT players are injured!


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## Zalgirinis (Feb 18, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>The_German_Wunderkid</b>!
> On the other hand ALBA didn't find a good replacement for their US Forward Wendell ALexis (is he well known in the USA? he was great!) who didn't get a new contract for this season (He's about 38)


Yea, he was like a symbol of ALBA. Before season I knew that ALBA had bought another great PF Quadre Lollis instead of keeping Wendel Alexis, but when I saw Wendel in PAOK jersey he looked so strange  

Hes true ALBiAn, but hes too old for Euroleague. Anyway great player, I remember him killing my team Zalgiris in 99/00, when we played in Berlin.


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## Reznor (Jan 17, 2003)

I think Alba just got bored of winning one championship after another so they are looking for new thrills or challenges. Coming back from 1-2 in SF is one for example...

Last season Alba finished the reg. season in ****in' 5th place... They won every Play offs series w/o home court advantage. another type of challenge. (This season Alba's rival in the finals - Bamberg, finished 5th and now is in the finals, so...who knows...)

I won't be surprised if next season they will finish 5th and b 0-2 in SF or something. now THAT's going to be a REAL come back

I'm kidding. Of course Alba isn't doing any of that on purpose, but... u know...

German league is indeed getting better and better. Arenas are very often sold out, TV is broadcasting the game, they have very nice foreigners (Rencher, Collins, Basit, the rebound monster Ensminger, Best, Lollis, Goree last season), and bosman players (Stanojevic, Traina, Nadjfeji, Obradovic...). They just allowed 2 more teams to join the league, but gave the tickets only to teams that had arenas big enough, and showed some financial and marketing ability. That's how u do it. 

Only thing is missing is more success in European competitions. Alba is so-so in EL for so many years now... the rest of the teams can't make it too far in smaller competitions (Uleb cup...). But... I believe, at least for the Non-Alba teams, that it's a matter of experience. It's hard to know how to play both European and domestic competitions at once. Give them one or two more years, with same conditions, and German basketball will have more success in European cups as well. And once that will come...they will have a new champion as well.


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