Bayern wins again

The Bayern Basketball team won their third hard-fought game in just six days: Barely 42 hours after the 101-95 spectacle in the EuroLeague against Alba Berlin, the team of head coach Andrea Trinchieri won an expectedly difficult BBL road game 93-92 in Bamberg with a great performance. For the FCBB it was the twelfth win in the 15th game in the Bundesliga. 

After a slow start (23-13 for Bamberg), the guests seemed to take control in the second quarter (34-27). But a 13-0 run for Bamberg around the half-time break led to a double-digit deficit (63-52/26th) and made it a challenging come-from-behing win. They reacted with the next burst of energy and more aggressive defense, which made the lucky success against well-behaved Upper Franconia possible in the final sequence. Center Jalen Reynolds (20) scored the last basket, also passer Wade Baldwin (14), Paul Zipser (12) and Diego Flaccadori (10) scored in double figures.     

The Bavarians missed this time in Bamberg, in addition to Zan Mark Sisko and Robin Amaize (both still rebuilding), Nick Weiler-Babb, who had to rest because of a foot injury suffered on Friday. After the overnight return and a day of regeneration, the Munich team will not be back on the team bus until the next gameday - although that will be very soon: they start on Tuesday morning for the evening's guest game at sixth-place Ulm (Feb. 9, 7 p.m.).

Points per quarter Bayern - Bamberg: 17-23, 28-23, 22-26, 26-20.

Stats: Two-point shooting 59% (FCBB) // 62% (Bamberg); Three-point shooting: 42% // 39%; Free-throw shooting: 83% // 100%; Rebounds: 30 // 28; Assists: 15 // 23; Turnovers: 13 // 14.

Quotes:
Andrea Trinchieri: "We played in overtime 48 hours ago, so it was a tough game today. But we managed to win in the end, despite the many things we should have done better. But as I always tell my players, a win is a win and a loss is a loss - and we go home with a win. Today, however, we displayed the wrong mentality. (...) It was an expectedly difficult game. We had good moments, we had weak moments. In the end, the right players made the right decisions. The victory is the decisive thing with our game plan." 

Diego Flaccadori: "An unbelievable game, we put in very good fighting spirit and defense in the last three, four minutes. During the game our defense was not good, but in the last quarter we all stepped up. However, we have to stay solid for 40 minutes in the future and just start games better." 

Bamberg coach, Johan Roijakkers: "Congratulations to Andrea and Munich for the win. Both teams had a chance to win in the last two minutes. We could have used one or two more stops. But in the last seconds you saw the quality of Munich. They've had a lot of games that always went the same way: 37 minutes they were behind, but in the decisive phase they pulled up and decided the game. That's talent and quality. Therefore, congratulations.

Game recap:
Coach Trinchieri had Baldwin, Djedovic, Vladimir Lucic, JaJuan Johnson and Leon Radosevic start against Bamberg. Lucic scored from the corner after just 15 seconds following an extra pass from Baldwin. However, Bamberg started the game better and took a 15-7 lead (5th). Flaccadori stopped an 8-0 run by the home team but like on Thursday in Wuerzburg, the Munich offense struggled to heat up. A Flaccadori three-pointer at the end of the quarter proved to be enormously important and brought the deficit to six points, 23-17.

Bayern came into the second quarter with a much more physical mentality and the result was a quick 12-3 run that prompted coach Roijakkers to take a timeout (31-25/14th). The FCBB was now more focused and Zipser led the way with seven points in a row - just like in the overtime against Berlin (34-27/15th). Nihad Djedovic, who is gradually improving after his injury got some points and Bayern took the lead. At halftime, Bamberg was only in the lead because Mateo Seric hit a half-court shot at the buzzer, 46-45.

The former BBL juggernaut caught Bayern un the chin after the break with two threes by Hall and and 8-0 run, forcing a time-out by Trinchieri (54-45/23rd). Seeley answered, but then so did Bamberg with a three and the host's lead was up to ten (57-47/24th). The hosts were simply playing better basketball than Bayern. Bamberg continued to score easily but the FCBB also picked upt he pace on offense and shrunk the lead to five, (72-67).

Munich now defended more energetically and after 65 seconds Baldwin and Johnson tied the game at 72. Bamberg countered with a six-point run but got into foul trouble early. Bayern converted six free throws in a row and tied the game again at 80. Munich's tough mentality led to an 11-0 run (85-80/37th), but Bamberg was not to be written off- Hall put his team back in the lead and during the last two minutes, the lead changed four times. Baldwin found Reynolds once again after Zipser's free throws and Bayern can consider themselves lucky that a near-steal by Bamberg didn't lead to a last-second shot. The FCBB escaped another tough matchup with a win.

TO THE SCHEDULE

Photo Credit: Stickel & Loeb