FCBB with a big win in Chemnitz 79-58

What a high-character performance: Despite injuries the Bayern Basketball team won commandingly 79-58 in a sold-out arena in Chemnitz that was packed with 4,800 fans on Sunday evening. This concluded a tough week with the 14th win of the season in the BBL. After an outstanding 28-9 start (12th), the FCBB around top scorer Weiler-Babb (23) kept control at all times and hit 15 threes.

Tuesday vs Hamburg

Coach Trinchieri had only a skeleton squad at his disposal six days before the Cup semifinal against Berlin at the Top4 in Oldenburg (Sat., 19:30): In addition to Lucic and Harris, Winston and Hunter (both back) were out again as was Walden (death in the family) at short notice. The dress rehearsal for the Cup tournament is this Tuesday (19:00) in a home game at the Audi Dome against Hamburg.

Tickets vs Hamburg

Score per quarter: 23-7, 19-21, 21-18, 16-12.

Stats: Two-point shooting: 41% (FCBB) // 41% (Chemnitz); Three-point shooting: 47% // 38%; Free-throw shooting: 67% // 80%; Rebounds: 37 // 31; Assists: 14 // 15; Turnovers: 13 // 15

Quotes:           

Andrea Trinchieri: "On one hand, it was a very solid, very focused performance by my entire team. For us, Winston, Walden, Lucic, Harris and Hunter couldn't play, that's certainly a starting five for any Bundesliga team. (...) When you have to do without five players and when you play every two, three days, it's difficult to muster the energy. Today we managed to play a very good game. We also wanted to do it for Corey, who had a personal issue, a death, so he had to leave. It's a hard moment, but with us the family comes first. (...)

We are generally not in our best moment, but we came here very focused. We played very, very well on both sides of the court. On the other hand, of course I know Chemnitz had a tough schedule as well - welcome to the club - and when you play every 48 hours, sometimes you don't know your own name. That was a factor, but we controlled the game and always led by double digits. We played as a team and responded as a team during a difficult period. Congratulations to Chemnitz for the great atmosphere in the hall. (...) Next weekend (at Top4) we will of course not be able to compete in our best shape. We still have a home game against Hamburg and if we perform with this mentality, this concentration and this team unity, we can achieve something. I don't know yet what that will look like, but once again I stand by my team."

Niels Giffey: "Right in the first quarter, things just went extremely well. Nick took over, but also defensively a lot of things went right. We just felt good, allowed few baskets. Especially in the beginning we had great confidence. We miss the players that can't be there - one thing is on the court, the other is as a team, as a group. We're just happy to have them back. Brilliant performance by Nick today, he hit everything but also gave us a lot of energy defensively. That was definitely fun to watch him get going. It's going to be exciting in the cup now, everything is open. This is always a good time of the year to fight for the first title. We're going to put everything on the line."

Game recap:

Andrea Trinchieri ordered Isaac Bonga, Nick Weiler-Babb, D.J. Seeley, Augustine Rubit and Freddie Gillespie into the starting five against the Saxons. The FCBB were hot from the first second with a quick defense and a focused offense. This combination led to a briskly executed 15-0 run, to which Weiler-Babb contributed a whopping eleven points. The hosts only managed their first basket after more than seven minutes (15-2/8th minute of play). After the first quarter, Munich led 23-7 with Weiler-Babb putting his stamp on the opening minutes with 14 points and a lightning-clean scoring rate.

Nick Weiler-Babb with 19 first-half points

The Saxons went on a short 5-0 run and the FCBB head coach reacted immediately with a timeout to settle things down (28-14/13th). After two minutes without a basket for Munich, Rubit finally scored one of two free throws (29-15/14th). The game threatened to tip over into a blowout when Weiler-Babb stepped in again and unceremoniously sank his fifth three-pointer (32-17/16th). But Bayern missed free throws, and with the frenetic crowd behind them, Chemnitz fought to keep the deficit in single digits at halftime. A huge three-pointer by Giffey prevented that (38-24/18th) and Weiler-Babb delivered another highlight moment by going up strong for the offensive rebound and hammering the putback dunk over Chemnitz' Arej Uguak. After the second quarter, the Munich team was comfortably ahead 42-28.

Rubit gets going - Chemnitz remains within reach

In the first attack after the change of ends, Rubit hit a hook shot and immediately afterwards a three-pointer to make it 47-28 (22nd). The FCBB's lead cracked the 20-point mark as nothing was going right for Chemnitz and, to the disappointment of the packed arena there home team just could not score (50-28/23rd). Bayern had everything under control and Seeley was left open to drill a three, 55-32 (25th). Trinchieri remained attentive and strict as ever because he clearly did not want the big lead to slip.  A 6-0 run by the hosts was not to his liking but Obst stopped the run with two free-throws (57-38/27th). When the Niners scored again Trinchieri took a timeout (57-42/28th). Obst's first three-pointer made the Bayern bench cheer after his long absence due to injury (60-42/29th). After quarter number three, the FCBB led 63-46.

As in the third quarter Bayern convinced quickly and a solid performance on defense made Chemnitzer struggle mightily to score. Weiler-Babb's sixth three-pointer underlined his monster performance (70-48/34th). Andreas Obst sank his third three-pointer, much to the delight of a group of Bayern fans (79-54/37th) and the fat lady was singing.

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