Alba Berlin clearly gambled away the first match ball for the Bundesliga championship.
Instead of celebrating the title in front of their own fans on Friday evening, the defending champion experienced a debacle in the third final game against the permanent rival Bayern Munich after a weak offensive performance with 60:90 (33:52).
This means that the Berliners are only 2: 1 in the best-of-five series.
In the fourth game on Sunday in Munich, Alba still has a match point.
The best Berlin throwers in front of 14,500 spectators in the sold-out arena at Ostbahnhof were Oscar da Silva with 15 points and Maodo Lo with ten points.
The game started for Alba with a 4:2 lead.
However, it was to be the last one in the game, as Bayern took over after that.
Alba seemed nervous and found no rhythm, especially offensively.
While the Berliners still had the upper hand with rebounds in the first two games, this time the balls mostly landed with the guests.
In the second quarter, Bayern drew up to 22 points (22:44).
Alba made too many ball losses and too many misses.
Of twelve attempts beyond the three-point line in the first half, only one found its way into the basket.
Alba struggled after the change of sides, but they still didn't succeed enough.
Above all, the throw rate remained weak.
Instead of fighting back, the gap even grew to 27 points (40:67) in the third quarter.
The Berliners were without a chance until the end against strong Bayern players.
This also ended a series of 19 wins in a row for Alba.