In a dramatic finale, FC Bayern secured the German basketball championship. The decision came down to the final minutes.
FC Bayern is the German basketball champion for the seventh time and prevented a titleless season at the last minute. The Munich team won the decisive fifth final of the Bundesliga (BBL) against ratiopharm Ulm on Thursday in their own hall 81:77 (48:41), thus ending the best-of-five series 3:2. Ulm narrowly missed the second championship title after 2023 with its second missed match point.
Last weekend, Bayern lost game three at home, opening the door for Ulm. However, the team that finished second in the regular season could not take its first chance in front of its home crowd on Tuesday (53:67) and also missed the second 48 hours later in the SAP Garden. Thanks to the successful comeback, the first season of the Munich team under world champion coach Gordon Herbert ended with at least one trophy, after the club had missed its season goals in the EuroLeague and the BBL Cup.
“We often suffered this season. We played good basketball for long stretches, which makes up for it,” said national player Johannes Voigtmann afterwards at Dyn, adding: “We are all completely exhausted. It was a matter of willpower. We are super happy.”
Title for Andreas Obst and FC Bayern
Bayern celebrates successful title defense
The industry leader simultaneously achieved a successful title defense for the third time. Previously, FC Bayern became champion in 1954, 1955, 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2024. The top scorer for the hosts in the decisive game in front of a sold-out house with 11,500 spectators was Devin Booker (19 points), for Ulm Karim Jallow scored 22 points.
The guests had to do without Noa Essengue, as on Tuesday, as the Frenchman had flown to the NBA Draft to New York and was selected there in the night to Thursday at position twelve by the Chicago Bulls. Ben Saraf from Israel, drafted as number 26 by the Brooklyn Nets, was present when it was all or nothing in the last season game of the BBL and his last game for the Ulm talent factory.
He had only made “some adjustments” after the previous duel, Herbert said before the tip-off at Dyn, initially the Canadian saw a duel at eye level. Unlike the error-plagued game four, both teams found many solutions offensively, the Bayern hit excellently from the three-point line. World champion Andreas Obst provided the first double-digit lead (33:23/12th minute), but the sharpshooter was successful with a layup. Ulm remained cold for a long time with the three-pointers, only the eleventh (!) attempt was a hit, but the guests stayed close with an 11:1 run before the break.
Also Hoeneß follows crucial game
In front of the eyes of patron Uli Hoeneß, the lead – in the meantime it was 17 points – shrank more and more, the Bayern hardly hit anything anymore and Nelson Weidemann provided with a deep three-pointer for the lead of the Ulmer (66:65/33.). The traveling fans celebrated the basket loudly. Then the hour of Johannes Voigtmann struck on the Munich side: The world champion hit two three-pointers in a row and made it 79:75 with 74 seconds to go. At the free throw line, captain Vladimir Lucic made it 81:77, Ulm could no longer answer.
The Bayern victory held a long series. For the eleventh time since the introduction of the play-offs with three rounds including the final series in the best-of-five format (1989) there was a fifth game – and for the eleventh time the home team prevailed.
The success was not only a premiere for the Canadian Herbert, but also for the club. The Bayern celebrated a title for the first time in the SAP Garden, which was moved to this season.