Bayern comes back to defeat Bonn 78-69

FC Bayern's basketball players have once again won a game in their very special way: Head coach Andrea Trinchieri's team was down by 18 points (52-34) before coming back to win 78-69 over the Telekom Baskets from Bonn after a very weak first half - a good ten minutes later, they took the lead thanks to a change in body language and claimed their fifth BBL win in a row. Munich won the second half 44-19, the rebounding duel 44-30 and managed 19 offensive rebounds. Best scorers were guards D.J. Seeley (20) and Nick Weiler-Babb (16), who played 34 minutes.

In the standings, FCBB (38-8 points) remains third behind Ludwigsburg (40-4) and Alba Berlin (38-6). Crailsheim is fourth ahead of Oldenburg (34-12 each). Trinchieri was without Wade Baldwin, Vladimir Lucic and Jalen Reynolds and captain Nihad Djedovic (knee) is still missing due to injury. Leon Radosevic suffered a blow to the head early in the game and subsequently had to sit out the rest of the game.

Bayern is back in EuroLeague action on Friday night, hosting Anadolu Efes Istanbul at the Audi Dome with tip-off at 20:30. The Turkish champions overcame the hurdle of Maccabi Tel Aviv with ease (90-66) in Tuesday's make-up game and have now moved into second place with a 19-10 record - eight in a row. On Sunday, the FCBB will take on Crailsheim who is currently fourth place in the BBL and defeated league leader Ludwigsburg on the weekend; this will be followed by a home game against MBC on Tuesday evening.

Points per quarter Bayern - Bonn: 14-19, 20-31, 20-10, 24-9.

Stats: Two-point shooting: 45% (FCBB) // 51% (Bonn); Three-point shooting: 32% // 31%; Free-throw shooting: 77% // 68%; Rebounds: 44 // 30; Assists: 20 // 11; Turnovers: 12 // 17.

Quotes:
Andrea Trinchieri: "We play with the rhythm of an NBA team, but without the comforts of an NBA team. In the first half we were not ready for the game, we were like a flat tire. We were supposed to get help from some players with fresher legs, but for reasons I can't explain, we didn't get that help. That cost us a lot of energy. All the players who played in the second half were very good. We showed a different face and came back from an 18-point deficit. In the end, we had 44 rebounds and 20 assists and I think my team should have played the way they did in the second half."

Bonn coach, Will Voigt: "We knew they changed to a switching defense in the second half and we didn't manage to attack them properly. Our guards didn't find players for post-ups and couldn't create their own plays. But the crucial point was rebounding, there we were simply worse than Bayern. We were crushed in rebounding." 

David Kramer: "We know that defense is simply our greatest strength. In the first half, we just conceded too many easy baskets, including me, everyone was too slow, the intensity was just way too bad. Andrea said at halftime that we had to pull ourselves together and start playing defense. So we were able to turn the game around and still win. We went in with full power and luckily we still won."

Game recap:
Diego Flaccadori, D.J. Seeley, Nick Weiler-Babb, JaJuan Johnson and Leon Radosevic operated at the start of the game in the sadly empty Audi Dome. The FCBB started with a 9-2 lead (4th), but then missed a long series of shots. The Baskets took the lead (10-9/7th). Bayern lacked focus in the opening quarter, as can be seen from 15 missed shots  and a 19-14 lead for the Rhinelanders.

Two threes by Seeley did some good, but the guests slowly filled with confidence and though Trinchieri's men tried hard to reduce the gap, Bonn fought back as best they could and held a seven-point lead (33-26/16th). A Kramer three-pointer prevented the double-digit deficit, but not for long. M;unich could not get a grip on Strahinja Micovic, who scored 18 points in the first half. The Bonn team deservedly led 50-34 at the end of the first half.

A three-pointer by Zipser gave hope after the biggest Bonn lead (53-39/23rd) and Weiler-Babb picked up where he left off and also sank two threes - FCBB stalked back into the game (56-45/25th). The FCBB were now awake and Seeley shortened the gap to 56-51 (27th) with a three-point play. The Baskets fought hard were still ahead 60-54 after the third quarter.

Bayern now brought their most valuable character trait into play: they simply don't want to lose. With a tough defense as their foundation, they went on a 13-0 run and Kramer's three-pointer took the lead at 61-60.. Shortly afterwards, the score was 6760, but the Munich team was unable to pull away. The FCBB defense nipped any hopes of the Bonners in the bud  thanks to a powerful dunk by Weiler-Babb ten seconds before the end which put an exclamation mark on a well-earned victory.

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Photo Credit: Eirich, Matzke, Stickel