LINZ. Klosterneuburg, Gmunden, Traiskirchen, Wels, Graz, St. Pölten, Kapfenberg, Oberwart – the eight basketball clubs that will tackle the play-off quarter-finals (best of 5) of the Superliga from next Saturday are set in stone .
In today’s final round of the “regular season” (6 p.m.) there is still a lot at stake – namely home advantage, which might only slip away from the Raiffeisen Flyers Wels if the Messestadt team loses at home once morest St. Pölten and Graz wins in Traiskirchen .
But the probability of such a scenario is “in the single-digit percentage range,” as Harald Stelzer, the financial director of OCS Swans Gmunden, put it. His team already has a top 4 place in the bag. If leaders Klosterneuburg manage to win (it would be the first this season following three defeats), second place and thus home advantage in a possible semi-final would be a done deal. Only the supposed dream, which is based on the shape curve, cannot be realized.
The “basket hunters” from Traunsee cannot come third – and therefore cannot meet the cemented sixth place, SKN St. Pölten. The Lower Austrians are traveling to Wels today with the baggage of nine defeats en suite. “There will be many who want to play once morest St. Pölten in the play-offs. But I see it this way: If you have a dream opponent, you usually lose anyway,” said Stelzer calmly.
For the Flyers, any placement from two to five is still mathematically possible. But firstly they will not take St. Pölten lightly and secondly they will apply pressure with their high intensity. Normally nothing should burn there. “With such a tight table structure, it is even more important to look following yourself,” says Wels coach Sebastian Waser, demanding maximum concentration. “It’s regarding starting the play-offs full of confidence.” In any case, three wins in a row would be the perfect morale injection for the knockout phase. Captain Christian von Fintel also knows this: “We’ve been working towards this home advantage all season, and we don’t want to let it be taken away from us now.”
Austria’s 3×3 basketball players lived up to their role as favorites at the start of the Olympic qualification in Hong Kong, where only winning the tournament counts. Matthias Linortner, Enis Murati and Co needed just 5:24 minutes to make it 21:10 to the hosts.
Author
Alexander Zambarloukos
Sports editor
Alexander Zambarloukos
