Basketball finals series

“This tight scheduling is a crime!”

Sebastian Käferle and Munis Tutu after reaching the final.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

No time to catch your breath! The semi-final ended on Thursday and the best-of-five final series against the other surprise team, UBSC Graz, starts for Oberwarts Gunners in Graz on Saturday (5.30 pm). In which the team from southern Burgenland wants to be "cooler" again in the end...

When do you have to be in the lead to win a basketball game? At the final buzzer, as Oberwarts Gunners showed in the 70:69 thriller in the fifth and deciding semi-final duel with the Lions. They trailed for practically the entire game in Traiskirchen, but had the better nerves in the final. "We simply had more quality mentally and basketball-wise and found more solutions," said coach Horst Leitner, explaining his team's acclaimed run to the final. They will now fight for the title in a duel between the surprise teams and Graz.

The fans who had traveled with the team celebrated the final with the players.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The mentality was right - not just the fighting spirit, but also finding the right solutions at the end and staying focused.

Gunners-Coach Horst LEITNER

Preparation for the opponent? Not a chance! The tight schedule hardly allows for any training, just regeneration. Game one of the best-of-five series takes place on Saturday, followed by Monday and then Thursday...

Edi Patekar (on the ball) in the deciding game against Traiskirchen.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

"Learning from the games"
 "This scheduling is a crime," Leitner marvels, "as if paying the players an extra week was a problem." Could the packed schedule be more of a problem for Graz, who demystified title favorites Klosterneuburg and are playing with a shorter rotation? "It's hard to say, but it will be tough - also because you never know what to expect from them," says Leitner. "We'll have to learn from the games - and at the end of the day, whoever is cooler will win." Just like in Traiskirchen - Oberwart.