Mamma mia! Bayern’s basketball team wrapped up their Italian road trip with a second prestige victory: after winning in Bologna, they also beat Olimpia Milano on the road – 94–84 (52–34), their 17th win of the season. A 32–14 second quarter seemed to have the Munich side cruising towards a second success within 48 hours before Milano, backed by nearly 7,000 fans, almost staged a comeback. Thanks to the clearly superior head-to-head record (first leg: 64–53) against Booker & Co., the German champions, now level with Milano in wins, move ahead of Italy’s record titleholder after their final home outing.

Boxscore

Now ahead of Olimpia

Bayern, who shone as a unit with 27 assists, will finish their EuroLeague campaign next Friday at FC Barcelona. Before that, they have two BBL home games at BMW Park against Chemnitz (Sunday, 4:30 p.m.) and Ludwigsburg (Tuesday, 8 p.m.).

Both teams showed the strain of a long week early on, and Milano initially punished Bayern’s defensive lapses from deep to go up 15–7 (6'). But the visitors gradually played their way into the game, with better movement, quick hands on defense, and more drives to the basket on offense: it was 24–20 after Mike’s transition dunk, and after threes from the in-form Canadian and Giffey, Bayern had surged ahead 40–25 (15').

Six players in double figures

Bayern responded to setbacks in the second quarter with crisp ball movement. Da Silva was repeatedly found in good positions and finished strong around the rim (46–31/18'). The arena grumbled and then watched Obst, moments after blowing a layup, complete a four-point play. An outstanding first half overall, with just three turnovers (nine in total by the final buzzer).

Two minutes into the second half, Lucic hammered the ball through the hoop for 58–36. Bayern could do little wrong at that stage, and Gabriel continued the success story inside to make it 63–38 (24'). It was 71–48 and then 74–55 heading into the final ten minutes, but the job was far from done.

27 assists again

A few missed rebounds, a couple of turnovers, and some Milano threes – suddenly the comfortable lead had shrunk to 74–63 (32'). Now it was a real basketball game again, and at 79–75 (35') it had turned into a full-blown nail-biter.

But a big three from Jessup showcased the same composure Bayern had already demonstrated in Bologna (85–80), and Lucic followed up from outside for 90–78 (38'). Milano were done.

Quotes:

Svetislav Pesic, head coach FC Bayern Basketball: “Another good win for us, the second in Italy after Bologna. The most important thing is how we played as a team, with team basketball. Especially in the first 20 minutes – that was team defense, and that’s how you can control your own destiny. Coaches are always talking about early offense, but I talk about our defense. Our pressure on the ball, on the point guard, on the two and three positions, and our deny-defense put us in a situation where it doesn’t matter where we play, away or in Munich. We only had nine turnovers; we just lost a bit of control in the last quarter. Milano went all in at the end and lost giving everything.”

Neno Dimitrijevic: “This was a very successful double week for us in Italy. We beat two strong teams, and that will hopefully give us a push for the upcoming BBL playoffs. Unfortunately, this season we didn’t make it into the EuroLeague Playoffs or Play-Ins, but now our focus is on the BBL. We want to finish the regular season in first place and then really push on in the playoffs.”

Andreas Obst: “Even if there isn’t a lot left at stake in these EuroLeague games because we can’t reach the Playoffs or Play-Ins anymore, we showed character and played good team basketball. This week was important for our mentality and for the rest of the season, and we can build on that now.”