Bayern finishes strong vs Red Star

The tenth victory was achieved and it was with an incredible atmosphere at the Audi Dome that the Bayern basketball team won 87-80 against playoff hopeful Red Star in front of a sold-out crowd on Thursday night. They thus spoiled Belgrade's star Campazzo's EuroLeague debut for the year. Munich closed the physical game with a 19-5 run in less than five minutes. 20 points each from Lucic and Winston were the top scores.

In just 45 hours, the Cup winners face last year's final opponents Berlin (Sat., 20:30) in the BBL rivaly game and on Tuesday night (21:00), France's champion Villeurbanne visit Munich.

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6,500 fans, including almost 2,000 Serbs, witnessed a heated duel. At the end of the first quarter (23-19), the guests defended well and added three-pointers by Winston, Weiler-Babb and Lucic who hit a difficult buzzer-beater that brought them back into the game. Winston (16 points in the 1st half), who was unstoppable until the break, from outside took the lead at 35-33 (15th), the FCBB fans also let their voices be heard.

In addition to ten offensive rebounds allowed for Red Star in the first half, the only thing to negative for Bayern was the three-point rate of 25 percent (33 in the end). In the second half, however, it took six minutes against an energetic defense before Giffey ended an 8-0 run by Belgrade as Bayern fell behind 52-43 (25th).

In the final quarter Belgrade first looked more determined and attacked the basket effectively. At 64-56 and then 75-68 (35th) the game seemed to be over. But Lucic's strong second half (15 points) inspired the Munich attack late and with a 19-5 run, the FCBB turned the game around and the dome went wild. Giffey's final three-pointer also fell, meaning that the direct comparison (first matchup: 78-72) also went to the FCBB.

Score per quarter Bayern - Belgrade: 19-23, 22-15, 11-18, 35-24.

Stats: Two-point shooting: 60 % (FCBB) // 46 % (Belgrad); Three-point shooting: 33 % // 32 %; Free-throw shooting: 86 % // 77 %; Rebounds: 40 // 33; Assists: 13 // 21; Turnovers: 11 // 6

Quotes:

Andrea Trinchieri: "Even in the bad moments today, we kept playing and fighting. Our backs were against the wall, but we didn't give up. This is a great victory for us. (...) I think we had a good first half, but they came into the third quarter very strong. We lost our composure a bit there, didn't move the ball well and dribbled holes on the same spots of the court all the time. One reason was also their very physical defense. Then we were down by ten and everything looked bad. But we never gave up and went on a 35-24 run in the fourth quarter and a 19-5 in the last four minutes. We never looked back, we always pushed, pushed. And all the shots that were open that didn't fall three quarters before that, we then made them. And we had three unbelievable defensive plays and secured the rebounds. (...)

Freddie wasn't good the whole game, but he's like a good wine: sometimes you open the bottle and it's not good right away; it still needs the right amount of oxygen. I listened to my coaching staff after two mistakes by him on defense and left him in. He was then just supposed to protect the zone - I think that was the key: he had some great plays. (...) Cash was unbelievable in the first half, unstoppable. In the second, their defense had him more in focus and he was expecting some whistles. Let's say he's very persistent in wanting to have those calls. Sometimes it's a little too much hero ball, but I think we have to take it. And this is a team sport and I had the luxury of having Corey as well. He came in and had great plays on offense and defense."

Vladimir Lucic: "I'm happy to finally be back after three months. It was a great atmosphere tonight in the sold-out Audi Dome, just as we expected. I'm happy that we were able to hold on and win, because every win in the EuroLeague is important, right to the end. For me, of course, it's always nice when we win against Red Star. (...) We don't have much left to lose and for many of our opponents it's a do-or-die game. But we also still believe in it, we are not tourists here, we want to play and be competitive in every game. There are still some games and we are cup winners and won this game today. That gives us a good feeling for the next weeks, where the schedule is still very tough. Now we are preparing for a tough game in Berlin."

Cassius Winston: "It was a great atmosphere here today, a great fight. We came back well in the fourth quarter, stayed calm and stuck together. That was the key."

Andreas Obst: "We look at one game at a time. Of course we have the standings in mind, but we mainly want to get better from game to game and win each one. And at the end, we'll see where we stand. We want to win twice in a row against Berlin now, so we're going into Saturday's game with great motivation again. In the end, we'll see who walks off the court as the winner."

Niklas Wimberg: "We came out of halftime well, implemented the gameplan and got good stops. In the EuroLeague, a win like that is always a team effort. Sure, there are a few players who stand out. But in the end, it's always the team performance that matters."