Alba Berlin also put in a desolate performance at times in the second playoff game against ratiopharm Ulm and now faces the end of its season. For coach Pedro Calles, it is the continuation of a horror statistic.
While Alba Berlin’s form curve was pointing steeply upward in the final phase of the BBL main round, disillusionment has now spread throughout the capital again. The team also lost its home game against second-placed ratiopharm Ulm by a clear margin (62:74). The reason for this is easy to identify: the Albatrosses scored only 27 points in the first half. They were unable to recover from a 20-point deficit.
“We didn’t find our offensive rhythm at all in the first 30 minutes,” coach Pedro Calles made clear afterwards. ”That meant we couldn’t build any confidence. Our mental focus wasn’t there.”
For the Spaniard, this also means that his personal horror statistics in the playoffs continue. Calles’ teams have now lost 13 games in a row across all clubs. His last playoff victory dates back to 2019, when he was still coach of RASTA Vechta.
Alba wants to “rekindle the fire”
The turnaround must now come on the road, of all places. “Everything is at stake on Saturday, our season,” Tim Schneider told basketball-world ahead of Game 3 in Ulm. This situation could “ignite a little fire.” “If we don’t do it on Saturday, when will we? Otherwise, the season will unfortunately be over very early.”
A chaotic season for the runners-up is thus threatening to come to an end. After running the risk of missing the playoffs altogether for a long time, Alba Berlin impressed in the final phase of the BBL with eight wins from their last nine games. “What we have built up in recent weeks would simply not do justice to this ending,” Schneider agrees.
Alba must fend off Ulm’s first match point on Saturday (starting at 6 p.m., exclusively on Dyn). However, the statistics clearly speak against Berlin: the last five games at the Donauschwaben have all been lost.