There may not have been joyful leaps to witness, but collective relief was certainly palpable—and it had nothing to do with the fine home win against Milan (87:70): The knee injury of Devin Booker turned out to be less severe than feared. The 33-year-old center of Bayern Basketball avoided a ligament rupture during his mishap towards the end of Sunday's game against Berlin and will only be sidelined for a few weeks.
Several Weeks Out
The fact that Booker’s season isn’t over as initially feared was confirmed during a final examination on Tuesday evening by the medical department led by team doctor Basti Torka and a specialist. “It’s a stroke of luck in misfortune, you could say. Like everyone, I was very worried,” said Booker, who slipped on an advertisement sticker shortly before the end of Sunday’s game and twisted his left knee.
Head Coach Gordon Herbert, who shared the diagnosis with the team, said: “This is the best possible news we could have received. We are all very relieved and will try to stick together as well as we did against Milan during Devin's absence.” According to Herbert, there is also a “50-50 chance” of the return of point guard Shabazz Napier, who participated in practice on Wednesday.
Devin Booker (15.2 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game) is playing the best season of his career at nearly 34 years old and is a key factor in the German champions’ 15-10 record, making them the surprise team of the EuroLeague season alongside Paris. In the decisive game against Milan, the big positions compensated for Booker's absence with Jo Voigtmann (13 points), Danko Brankovic (7/6 rebounds), forwards Vlado Lucic and Niels Giffey (16 each), as well as Elias Harris with a short appearance (2/2 offensive rebounds).
De Colo and Maledon Pose a Threat
With this team spirit, Bayern aim to beat the next challenger, who will appear just 46 hours later in the sold-out SAP Garden: From 20:30 CET (live on MagentaSport) they will face Asvel Lyon-Villeurbanne, who, with an 11-14 record, are not entirely out of the Play-In race. The French team has won six of their last 11 games since mid-December, including surprising victories over Barcelona (100:94), at Efes Istanbul (82:76), and before 20,000 fans at Partizan Belgrade (82:79).
Playmaker Nando de Colo (All-time: 14.9 points per game in 318 games, currently 11.1) is once again the leader of the team since he has returned to full health. Young star Theo Maledon, 23, stands out with impressive performances, currently averaging 17.8 points and 4.7 assists per game. Booker’s replacements will primarily have to contend with 2.11m center Joffrey Lauvergne (11.1 points, 5 rebounds per game) and Neal Sako (8.4 points, 6.1 rebounds per game) in the paint.
On Tuesday, the French team lost 66-73 at Red Star Belgrade (31-36), with only newly signed Ben Bentil (12 points) and Maledon (13 points) scoring in double digits.
"We discussed in the locker room before the Milan game that we would give 100% in this game, despite the double-week," says Gordie Herbert. "We’ll approach Villeurbanne the same way. We know they’ve significantly improved in the last few weeks after a rough start to the season. But we are playing at home in front of our fans, and we want to use that advantage."
Upcoming FCBB Games
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Thursday, February 6, 20:30 CET: 26th EuroLeague Round, FCBB – Asvel Lyon-Villeurbanne (SAP Garden)
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Sunday, February 9, 15:00 CET: 17th easyCredit BBL Round, Rasta Vechta – FCBB
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Tuesday, February 11, 20:00 CET: 18th easyCredit BBL Round, FCBB – Skyliners Frankfurt (BMW Park)
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Saturday, February 15, 16:00 CET: Cup Semifinal, Syntainics MBC – FCBB (in Weißenfels)