A good 7,000 travel kilometers, three games within five days - within 98 hours to be precise - including two absolute EuroLeague heavyweights as hosts, and all this under the special conditions of the Corona Pandemic. The Bayern basketball players are in for a demanding week in every respect.
The start was at noon on Tuesday in Munich, where the FCBB team set off for Israel. On Wednesday (18:30.) Maccabi Tel Aviv will host the FCBB. On Thursday, the route leads Istanbul, for the duel on Friday evening (19:45). Saturday is again a travel day, then it's off to Weissenfels via Leipzig: there, on Sunday evening (20:30.), the FCBB will meet its well-rested southern rival Bayreuth in the first round game of its qualifying group of the German Cup.
The Munich team looks to build on two good performances in the EuroLeague against Milan (81-79 loss) and in Berlin (90-72 win), as well as to take the first step towards the home tournament for the BBL Cup at the Audi Dome (1./2.11.) MagentaSport will broadcast live.
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On Friday at Fenerbahce Istanbul, on Sunday in the German Cup against Bayreuth
Although head coach Andrea Trinchieri has the whole week in mind and could possibly change his personnel for Bayreuth, the Italian wants to proceed "step by step". He says: "I have a lot of respect for Maccabi's players and their coach, because I think together with Efes they were the Corona victims of the aborted season. They had an incredible run last season and they want to go back to exactly that level. They played great in Moscow and we will have our hands full to be competitive against them. At the moment we have to be honest that we are working hard and getting better - but our goal at the moment is to be competitive in every game."
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Israel's record champion Maccabi (54 championships, 44 cup wins), who have won the European crown five times - last in 2014 - also recently defeated Alba Berlin (80-73). Last week followed a narrow road loss at title candidate ZSKA Moscow (76-72). Only in the last three minutes did the game tilt in favor of the Russians. Maccabi's top scorers were Guard Scottie Wilbekin (20) and US colleague Tyler Dorsey (16).
Last season the team of coach Ioannis Sfairolpoulos was clearly on the play-off course until the corona shutdown with a record of 19-9. The fact that the ambitions have not changed was proven not only by the strong core but also by the commitment of the young Croatian center Ante Zizic from the NBA (Cleveland). From Turkey came US guard Chris Jones (Bursaspor, 15.3 ppg, 6.8 apg) and from league rival Rishon the local forward Oz Blayzer. In addition to top scorer Wilbekin (14 ppg), Dorsey (12 ppg) and Angelo Caloiaro (10) are the top scorers in the young season so far. FCBB center Jalen Reynolds, who moved to Tel Aviv during the past season, will be reunited with his former team.
"Playing against Maccabi is always very difficult because they play with an incredible amount of energy, even without fans," says Bayern's Paul Zipser, who still has last year's 77-55 loss in mind. "Our focus must be on fighting together as a team."
The game will take place without spectators as the corona situation in Israel is still tense. The FCBB will travel by charter this time as an exception to minimize risk; hotel, hangar and plane will be the exclusive to the team. "We want to make sure that our travel group can stay among themselves as much as possible in these uncertain times", explained FCBB Managing Director Marko Pesic.
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