Jessup and Bayern celebrate their 14th win

In the end, the arena was on its feet celebrating: In a thrilling final showdown against France’s record-holding champions Lyon-Villeurbanne—a match in which Svetislav Pesic’s team was supposedly the underdog—the Bayern basketball players secured their 14th EuroLeague victory with a 93:83 (39:42) win, a result that tasted especially sweet. In front of nearly 9.000 fans at SAP Garden, who gave the team tremendous support, Justinian Jessup topped his previous best performance in the European elite competition—where he is playing his first season—as the top scorer with 19 points.

JJ with a career high

Dimitrijevic (thigh) was back in the roster but, as planned, did not see any action; he is expected to play on Sunday in Hamburg (3 p.m.), when Bayern aims to extend its lead in the BBL standings. The hosts will once again move to the Barclays Arena for the German champions’ visit.     

Bottom-ranked Asvel had suffered three close losses and was clearly looking to reverse the trend. Bayern stuck to their plan early on to get the ball into the paint, with McCormack contributing to the initial 12:6 lead (5th min). Stopping fast breaks—part two of the game plan—needed to be executed even better: Lyon defended hard, and Munich’s long-range shots weren’t falling yet, 14:15 (9th min).

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Lucic’s three-pointer breaks the deadlock

It remained a tricky task to secure this so-called must-win game. Jessup’s enthusiasm really livened things up (35:31, 17th min.), even if not everything went his way.

In the second half, Hollatz and Obst came off the bench, and the FCBB seemed to have significantly more momentum (47:46, 23rd min). But the French weren’t fazed and stretched the floor—two three-pointers made it 47:52. Obst started to make his presence felt, but the defense kept showing gaps (64:63, 30th min).

Center McCormack works hard

When Lucic hit his three-pointer to make it 72:66 (33rd min.), it finally provided a boost. McCormack worked hard in the paint, Jessup scored on the break and countered Asvel’s veteran Heurtel (13) – 82:76 (36th min.). Obst had the final say with a buzzer-beating three-pointer, good.

The quotes: 

Svetislav Pesic, Head Coach FC Bayern Basketball: We played a complete game, showing a lot of passion and consistency in the final minutes of a close contest. Asvel has been playing much better basketball since Christmas, even with new players; it was very tough to match their energy and athleticism. I think we played a really good game and won the third quarter for the first time in a long while. With patience and tenacity on defense. That’s how we built confidence and earned the win. I’m very satisfied with the team. (…) We’ve had a lot of issues with the virus for the past month—I even caught it last week. (…) But when we’re healthy, we can play well at this level, just like today. I enjoy every day with the guys. The way we played today, with that passion and patience in the decisive minutes, you have to be satisfied. It wasn’t our best game of the season, but it was very solid—we can build on that for the rest of the season. We want to continue to hold our own in the EuroLeague.”

Andreas Obst: “It was the second game in 48 hours. That takes its toll. (…) We still want to get something out of this. We want to finish the EuroLeague on a high note and set a good standard for the tasks ahead. (…) At the end of the day, you play basketball for fun. We always want to be competitive. (…) Next week, we want to end the EuroLeague season with a home win.”

Justinian Jessup: “We played well on both offense and defense the entire game. There were a few games we couldn’t close out, but we did that today, and that’s why we’re satisfied.  (…) As a player, I want to improve for the rest of the EuroLeague season, and the same goes for the team. We want to build momentum for the BBL playoffs.”

David McCormack: “It always feels good to win. The team played a complete, solid game full of energy. (…) We try to win every game and stay competitive.”