The candles at home have gone out and the Munich squad is on the road again: two away games in one trip are on the schedule for the Bayern Basketball team before New Year's Eve, and their last business trip of the year will last just under five days. On the day after Boxing Day (Dec. 27), they will play their first game in Mannheim's SAP Arena. Andrea Trinchieri's team will be looking to defend its strong position in the BBL (9-2) in front of a crowd of probably around 10,000.
48 hours later in Belgrade
From Mannheim on Wednesday, the team will travel via Frankfurt directly to Belgrade, where host Partizan will probably have a few thousand fans and also decibels behind them on the 16th EuroLeague gameday. The game kicks off at 20:30 on Tuesday in Serbia. MagentaSport will be live as always.
The Heidelberger Academics have moved to the much larger SAP Arena, about 20 kilometers to Mannheim, and will play their first game again Bayern. They can play quite freely, because they have already won four games (4-6) on their way to avoid regelation. These wins have included a number of crunch-time victories at the start 0f the season before they suffered a minor setback at the MBC (92-85).
BBL-Topscorer Washington
The top scorer of the MLP (Mannheim) Academics - and currently also of the easyCredit BBL - is US guard Eric Washington, 29, who averages 21.8 points and 7.3 assists. The closest to him on the team is former Wuerzburg power forward Max Ugrai (12.1 ppg).
With Jaramaz and Babb?
The FCBB, who have been shorthanded for weeks, have some hope that Nick Weiler-Babb and Ognjen Jaramaz, (both illness) could be fit for action again in the course of the trip. Most recently in Kaunas (75-67), head coach Trinchieri had only two real guards available in Walden and Winston. Vladimir Lucic and Andreas Obst are still out due to elbow injuries.
Panathinaikos, Berlin, Baskonia
FCBB's next home games at the Audi Dome are in the EuroLeague vs Panathinaikos Athens led by Derrick Williams (Jan. 5) and third-place Baskonia Vítoria (Jan. 10, both at 20:30). Bayern will also host the BBL top rivalry game against Alba Berlin on Sunday, Jan. 8 (18:00).