Defending champion Alba Berlin is the first team to move into the semi-finals of the German basketball play-offs.
The albatrosses prevailed on Monday evening at the Hamburg Towers in front of 200 spectators with 85:73 (48:35) and won their best-of-five series 3-0.
In the round of the last four, the team of coach Aito Garcia Reneses meets the EWE Baskets Oldenburg or ratiopharm Ulm.
The Ulm team won game three with 70:66 (38:25) and lead their series with 2: 1.
Even without the still injured top performers Luke Sikma, Johannes Thiemann and Louis Olinde, the Berliners came into the game strongly in Hamburg and were already 14 points ahead by the first quarter break (30:16).
As a result, the Towers showed themselves to be significantly improved, but the hosts couldn't get closer than six points over the entire course of the game.
The best throwers were Maik Kotsar and Zac Cuthbertson from Hamburg with 17 points each, in a balanced Berlin team five players scored double digits.
Alba captain Niels Giffey contributed eleven points and cracked the 2000 point mark in the BBL.
Main round winners MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg and FC Bayern Munich, however, missed early entry into the semi-finals on Sunday.
Munich lost to the Hakro Merlins Crailsheim with 82:96, Ludwigsburg delivered a shockingly weak performance and lost to the former series champion Brose Bamberg with 60:96.
"Congratulations to the Bamberg team, they were better in every way," said Ludwigsburg coach John Patrick after the game.
“Our performance was arrogant and we deservedly lost.” Both the Giants and Bayern are 2-1 ahead in their series and can make the semi-finals perfect on Tuesday.