Tadellose Bayern beenden eine unselige Mistserie

This curse has finally come to an end: After nine unsuccessful attempts, FC Bayern Basketball finally celebrated their sixth win of the season in their first game of 2026. And what a win it was—during the 95:71 (50:41) victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv, who had previously won five games in a row, Svetislav Pesic’s team shed all their burdens and shone, especially in the third quarter (26:10), thanks to a defense that set the tone for the game.

The top scorers in front of 11,500 fans in the sold-out SAP Garden were the energetic center McCormack (18), Lucic (17), Obst (15), Jessup (12), and da Silva (10). The team recorded eight steals and 25 assists.

Already on Sunday (6 p.m.), Bayern will play in Braunschweig. In the EuroLeague, their next opponent at the SAP Garden on Wednesday will be Baskonia Vítoria.

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Full boxscore

Isiaha Mike also out

Against Maccabi, in addition to the already known absences, Bayern also had to cope with the short-notice loss of Isiaha Mike (muscular problems). As planned, Aleksa Radanov was also no longer in the squad, as his contract was valid only until the end of the year.

Despite a majority of early foul calls against them, the focused hosts held a 15:12 lead (6th minute). In addition to his defensive efforts, Obst naturally led the offense as well: an assist to da Silva, who started in place of Mike, then five points from Jessup—28:18 (9th minute). The lead grew to 31:20, a promising quarter.

In terms of pace, the Munich team looked good, but their defense showed some gaps under the basket (41:35/16th minute). After making it 47:35 (17th minute), only their deficit in rebounds (14:19) prevented them from going into halftime with even more confidence.

A 22:4 run with McCormack

McCormack showed his strength on offense three times in a row—a really strong game from him. Maccabi couldn’t get anything going, Bayern ran and fought—a furious 22:4 run to make it 74:47 (28th minute)! In the final quarter, FCBB maintained this comfortable lead with the necessary effort. Victory—what a relief.

Quotes: 

Svetislav Pesic, Head Coach FC Bayern Basketball: “Congratulations to my players. When you win in the EuroLeague, everyone is happy, including the coach. But for me, what matters is how we won. (…) Tonight, everything we tried defensively worked. We played excellently. Excellent on-ball defense, sometimes switching defense, boxing out, rebounding—it was a complete game. (…) Regarding our defense against one of the best transition offense teams in the EuroLeague, I want to say: Bravo to the players, bravo. They didn’t save any energy, they only thought about how to stop Maccabi’s transition. On offense, we changed the rhythm, sometimes playing set plays, sometimes fast-break offense. Now we just have to try to repeat such a game in Braunschweig and in the double-week next week.”

Justinian Jessup: “Finally, we have a win. That’s a great feeling (…) I think we’re a bit more focused on defense, playing more team basketball. Coach Pesic has changed our attitude a bit. We made progress today. (…) I think we really need to enjoy this. Remember how a win like this feels and carry that momentum forward. (…) I think we’re building something since Coach Pesic arrived. We’re building momentum, good emotions, and we have to keep going with that.”

David McCormack: “It was fun today. Our confidence is growing, and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates—the chemistry on the court was just right. (…) This was an important win for us, it changed the momentum, our confidence for the new year 2026. We hoped to start the right way, and it worked.”

Andreas Obst: “It’s balm for the soul to get a home win, it feels good and I think the hard work we put in is paying off today. (…) We didn’t always have good structure, didn’t always know how we wanted to play, and struggled to find a rhythm. I think now we have clarity. Of course, we still have to work on it, but the little things are already making a difference. (…) We’re trying to keep things simple, took some things out, and the things we still have, we want to do really well. That’s what Coach Pesic demands from us (…) I’m not surprised by David’s performance at all, he’s been positive all season, brought good energy, trained hard, and was always there for the team. I was happy that he had his breakout today, but I wasn’t surprised.”