Thanks to great nerves and an outstanding Vladimir Lucic, the basketball players of FC Bayern managed to equalize in the final series of the Bundesliga against Alba Berlin.

24 hours after the opening defeat, the Munich team prevailed against the defending champion on Thursday evening with 76:66 (35:26) and now have the home advantage.

The Serbian top star Lucic was Bayern's best thrower with 26 points in front of 2000 spectators, even 15 points from Ben Lammers were not enough for Alba.

The next two games will take place on Saturday and Sunday in Munich, with 1,300 fans being allowed in the arena.

A possibly decisive fifth game would take place in Berlin on Tuesday.

Alba and Munich have faced each other six times since 2013 in the playoffs, each time Bayern prevailed.

And again the Munich are now in the role of favorites.

The guests started much more concentrated than in the first game.

After numerous foul whistles against his team, coach Andrea Trinchieri had demanded that his players should be less “bad guys”.

And the Italians' protégés followed.

Fully focused, the Munich team turned up early after a balanced initial phase.

First time out after five minutes

At 6:11, Berlin coach Aito Garcia Reneses took the first time-out after five minutes - it didn't help.

With a 12-0 run, the Munich separated.

In front of all Lucic, vehemently booed by the home crowd, showed his extra class and scored as many points as the Alba team combined with seven points in the first quarter.

The last ailing Peyton Siva returned with the Berliners, the US playmaker was initially noticeable of the lack of rhythm.

"They came out with more energy and we didn't hit a lot of easy throws," said Siva at Magentasport.

Alba was already 10:29 behind, but fought his way back into the game, whipped by the spectators.

The Berliners dominated the rebounds and scored twelve points in a row.

Trinchieri complained to the referees despite the nine point lead at halftime when his team had already disappeared into the dressing room.

In the second half it was the heated duel expected.

After a tight decision against Bayern, Trinchieri conceded a technical foul because of a wild complaint, which further heated the mood.

With a threesome, Markus Eriksson gave the game the first Alba lead at 43:42.

No team was able to break away decisively until the final phase. Alba developed second chances several times, but Bayern was ripped off. Lucic sank several important throws - and led the Munich team to victory with a top career point.