It happened in the last home game of the year: In a very intense EuroLeague top game, FC Bayern Basketball lost 69:80 (36:32) to defending champions Panathinaikos Athens in dramatic final minutes on Friday evening. After leading 67:66, the very hard-pressed offense only managed one more basket. With the first home defeat in front of another 11,200 spectators, FCBB now has 11:7 wins after the second round of the EuroLeague.
Bayern now have to forgo home games until January 15 and play five away games, starting on Sunday in Frankfurt.
FC Bayern Basketball - Panathinaikos 69:80 (36:32)
FCBB
Andreas Obst (19 points, 6 3FG), Johannes Voigtmann (14, 13 rebounds), Devin Booker (14, 6 rebounds), Carsen Edwards (11), Niels Giffey (9), Kevin Yebo (2), Nick Weiler-Babb (5 rebounds), Shabazz Napier (7 assists), Ivan Kharchenkov, Danko Brankovic, Oscar da Silva, Onuralp Bitim (DNP-CD)
Top scorer Panathinaikos:
Kendrick Nunn (27 points)
Referee
Sreten Radovic, Seffi Shemmesh, Alberto Baena
Attendance
11.500 (sold-out)
67:66 lead with three minutes to go
A tingling home atmosphere again this time, despite 2,000 Pana fans, and that spurred them on immediately: The German champions took a 9:0 lead, while Athens mostly scored points in the first quarter through transition against an aggressive defense (16:13).
However, the visitors also defended very well, in particular the three-pointers (FCBB: 26%) and Bayern's guards. Top star Nunn (27) now took over over the other end and Herbert's men lost structure and order - 20:30 (15:00). However, Obst (19 points, 6/11 3FG) was the first to find gaps from outside and the game immediately turned completely around: Bayern was ahead on rebounds at the break and also on the scoreboard.
Bayern still needed its top scorer Edwards, but the again incredible Obst held his own (49:47/27). However, rebounds conceded gave Athens a hint of momentum for the first time. FCBB looked for hot hands, but first lost Booker to a T (61:66/34).
The rest was heart racing: 67:66 after threes by Obst and Voigtmann (14, like Booker), but the team was now running out of steam. And they waited in vain for whistles. So: A couple of turnovers and four buckets by Pana, 0:13 to make it 67:78 - the decision.
Quotes:
Gordon Herbert, Head Coach FC Bayern Basketball: “Congratulations to Panathinaikos. When the game was close, they hit some big threes and we didn't. You have to respect them for that. It was a very physical game and a one-point game with three minutes to go. Our players showed great effort, I liked that. We ran out of energy a bit, I think. But it didn't happen because we didn't fight. I always had the feeling that we could win. But you have to acknowledge that they ran after us at the three-point line and made a lot of shots difficult. Our half-court offense was sometimes too head over heels. When we moved the ball, pulled and then passed, it was much better. (...) We had a really good start, but things went downhill with the second group this time. So we shortened the rotation in the second half and Devin's fourth foul hurt us. So we had to go small. (...) Carsen has had games like that in the past before he exploded in the fourth quarter or the second half. But he had some really good passes to pitchers when he moved into the zone. He's our leading scorer, so of course we continued to trust him.”