Hard-fought 64-53 victory against Milan

This evening didn’t bring an offensive fireworks display — which makes the result all the sweeter: in a fierce battle, FC Bayern Basketball defeated Italian record champion Olimpia Milan 64–53 (28–33) on Tuesday night for their second win of the season. The injury-depleted Munich side compensated for a mediocre shooting performance with passion — led by captains Lucic (15 points) and Obst (11). The SAP Garden was sold out for the 30th time at a Bayern game, with 11,500 fans in attendance.

On Wednesday afternoon, Bayern will head to Turkey to face defending champion Fenerbahce Istanbul (Thu., 7:45 p.m.). Their next home game: the important Cup round of 16 on Monday evening (8 p.m.) at BMW Park against Braunschweig.

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Alongside Jokubaitis, Voigtmann, and Harris, Bayern were also without Jovic, whose ankle was still swollen after Sunday’s mishap — so the question was how the team would fill the gap at point guard. Baldwin started at the one and scored the first basket after three minutes to make it 2–3 (he finished with 11 points).

Sold out for the 30th time

Through aggressive defense and good ball movement on offense, Bayern took a 16–14 lead after the first quarter. Neither team could pull away — Bayern couldn’t because of too many lapses on the boards, trailing 13–25 at halftime. Given the low-scoring affair (2-for-11 from three), that was a particularly frustrating shortcoming.

18–7 in the third quarter

After the break, Baldwin hit his first three-pointer to make it 38–37 (25th minute). Kratzer checked in with rebounds and an assist — 42–37 (27th), the crowd took over, and the quarter went 18–7 in Bayern’s favor.With a 46–40 lead and possession heading into the final quarter, Mike hit from outside to make it 49–42 — progress in small steps. But Milan’s stars all came back on court for crunch time, and at 56–48 for Munich (37th minute), things got tense. With their last reserves of energy and several strong defensive plays, Gordie Herbert’s men secured this valuable home win.

Quotes:

Gordon Herbert, Head Coach, FC Bayern Basketball: “I have to praise my players for an outstanding performance. The big takeaway from this game is: we can win even when our offense struggles — because of our defensive effort. In the second half, we finally secured the defensive rebounds, and that was the key point for me. Leon Kratzer didn’t play for the first 25 minutes, came in, and gave us an outstanding four minutes with a plus-nine impact. You can see how engaged he always is on the bench, encouraging his teammates — and then he comes in ready to play. That moment created an interesting team dynamic. (…) We fought them down because the guys coming off the bench were ready — that was great. Usually, I play ten guys, today it was eleven. But we have twelve who can play. We have good depth and can throw anyone in. But of course, I can’t make all twelve happy. The way Oscar has been playing lately, he would have deserved to play.”

Vladimir Lucic: “It was important to bounce back after the game here against Kaunas. We managed that against Bamberg and confirmed it today. Not the prettiest game, but I’ll gladly take an ugly win. We don’t have much time to recover — tomorrow we’re already off to Istanbul, where the reigning champion awaits us. (…) Defensive rebounding was tough for us in the first half; after halftime, all five guys boxed out better and executed the fundamentals better. It was a physical game. Milan also missed some open shots, but a win is a win.”

Andreas Obst: “I think we played good defense, but we didn’t grab the rebounds we should have — that gave them easy points. That’s why we were behind at halftime. In the second half, we secured those rebounds, were able to play our game, and found our rhythm. That was the key. It wasn’t pretty, but it was hard-fought and physical. (…) That’s the mindset we need to have: never give up, stay physical, no matter if we’re up by 20 or behind. It’s a tough schedule, but we have to bring energy — even when our shots aren’t falling.”

Niels Giffey: “The game was slow, with a slow pace. Both we and Milan missed open threes. It may not have been great basketball art, but defensively we looked okay — with energy — and we found solutions there. (…) It helps us that Wenyen is back; he clears up certain mismatches. Especially at the end, he handled the situation against Brown and helped keep the game under control. (…) I fought for a few ugly points — if the three isn’t falling, then I have to get them that way. I battled for some mismatches, even with our bigs. It was a strange lineup, also with Shields playing the four. (…) We’re learning from game to game. We’re watching a lot of film, talking a lot. We have to get into that mindset. Especially at home, it’s important to win games, to play with energy — but also with the awareness that we haven’t been together for long, had an ugly preseason, and when you look at the bench, there’s still half a starting five sitting there.”

Next games:

• THU., October 16, 7.45 pm: EuroLeague gameday 5, Fenerbahce Istanbul – FCBB

• MON., October 20, 8 pm: BBL Cup eighth-finals: FCBB – Löwen Braunschweig (BMW Park)

• FRI., October 24, 8.45 pm: EuroLeague gameday 6, FCBB – Olympiacos Piraeus (SAP Garden)

• SUN., October 26, 6 pm: BBL gameday 5, Alba Berlin – FCBB

• TUE., October 28, 8 pm: EuroLeague gameday 7, FCBB – Real Madrid (SAP Garden)