Game four of the “Best-of-5-Finalsserie” in the Superliga against BC Vienna was on the program yesterday in Gmunden (still in progress when this issue went to press). In the world’s best basketball championship, the NBA, things get really serious on Friday night (3 a.m.) when the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors with superstar Stephen Curry meet in the final.
The Celtics won the decisive seventh game of their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Miami Heat last Sunday with a score of 100-96. “The boys can celebrate briefly, but they also have to look ahead quickly. It would all be in vain if we fail in the final,” said coach Ime Udoka, who reached the NBA finals in his first season as head coach. Udoka is a student of the legendary Gregg Popovich, who also has Austria’s only NBA player Jakob Pöltl under his wing at the San Antonio Spurs.
The Celtics are fighting for the championship for the first time since 2010 and have the chance to become the sole record holder in the all-time statistics. They are currently tied with the Los Angeles Lakers with 17 trophies won. But final opponent Golden State is the more experienced team. For the sixth time in the past eight years, head coach Steve Kerr’s team has qualified for the finals. The Chicago Bulls around icon Michael Jordan last recorded such a run in the NBA between 1991 and 1998.
Superliga is increased
The Austrian men’s Superliga will be increased from ten to twelve clubs, the last time there were so many in 2014. After checking the license documents, second division champions Fürstenfeld and the BBC Nord Dragonz from Eisenstadt were given the green light for promotion, the Vienna Timberwolves, who would have been relegated, drew the “wild card”. The price for this is 25,000 euros or five minus points. The top six after the regular season are fixed in the play-offs, two more teams are added from the qualifying round of the bottom six. The eleventh plays against the twelfth against relegation.
Source: Nachrichten
