One game as an underdog and one with a possibility of staying near the top of the BBL standings: the Bayern basketball team is on its next road trip, the four-day journey ending on Sunday evening (18:00) with what should be a good game in Bamberg. But before that, back-to-back EuroLeague champions stand in the way in Istanbul, with Efes hosting head coach Andrea Trinchieri's team just 48 hours earlier (Friday, 18:30/MagentaSport). Bayern will travel directly to Upper Franconia on Saturday.
After the poor performance on Sunday in Ludwigsburg (96-68), a change was necessary and the mood at practice pointed to positive steps and not only because of the return of D.J. Seeley.
Efes handles Barcelona
To what extent Anadolu Efes will allow this positive development for the injured Munich team (Lucic and Obst) is another matter. The Turkish defending champions celebrated an impressive road win at FC Barcelona (80-75) last week. With a 10-9 record Efes has shaken off the well-known championship lethargy of the first third of the season and is back on a winning path.
"They are the two-time champions and they showed that to everyone again last week," Trinchieri paid tribute to the hosts. "Not only is their backcourt loaded with fabulous quality, led by arguably the best guard duo. Clyburn is also an MVP, plus Beaubois, Bryant, M'Baye, Zizic, Dunston, Pleiss and so on. Yeah, it's going to be tough, but we want to present ourselves well."
MVP duo Micic/Larkin complete again
Bayern (7-12) surprised the favorites in the first matchup at the Audi Dome and were able to get their first win on the sixth gameday in the Euroleague. That probably doesn't make the task any easier, nor does the fact that Efes' guard duo has recently returned to the court. Shane Larkin is back after a lengthy hand injury, and in Barcelona he was back to his older tricks with Vasa Micic, scoring 17 points.
In addition to Larkin and MVP Micic (17.5 ppg, 6.4 apg), Will Clyburn rounds out the star trio for Efes. The American is currently the second-best scorer in the league with 18.2 points (6 rpg) per game. Micic (20.9 PIR) and Clyburn (19.4) are third and fourth in terms of effectiveness on the court.
Clyburn number two Euroleague scorer
In addition to this triumvirate, Coach Ataman can bring in top role players such as Rodrigue Beaubois (11.9 ppg, 45% three), French European Championship silver medalist Amath M'Baye (8.7 ppg, 54% three), Elijah Bryant (6.1) and Cologne born center Tibor Pleiss (6.3 ppg). Furthermore, US forward Chris Singleton (alltime 7.9 ppg), who played for Efes in 2019 has recently returned to the team.
In the Turkish BSL, Efes is currently in fourth place (10-5) behind champions and league leaders Fenerbahce (13-2). For the club, however, only one thing counts anyway: the title hat trick in the EuroLeague.
Arguably the best guard duo in the EuroLeague: Vasilije Micić (left) and Shane Larkin (right).