On parle français: The two top teams in France's LNB Pro A will be guests at the SAP Garden during the next double week of the EuroLeague. On Tuesday evening, Bayern's basketball team will first host French champions Paris, followed just 48 hours later by last year's finalists AS Monaco, featuring Mike James, Nikola Mirotic, and world champion Daniel Theis. After five wins in their last seven games, the German champions (10:15) are hoping to continue their upswing. Both games start at 8:30 p.m.
Bayern began their preparations on Monday and quickly put the defeat against Ulm behind them. Given the rotation, it had to be expected, and these ominous match days do happen, mostly in the first two months of the new year: the teams in Europe's top flight suddenly have to pay tribute to the borderline schedule in concentrated national competition.
France's champions recently surprised Real Madrid
This weekend, it happened again: more than half of the EuroLeague field suffered defeats alongside Bayern, eleven out of 20: FC Barcelona (83:84 in Murcia), Baskonia (85:89 in Gran Canaria), Olimpia Milan (81:90 against Brescia), Virtus Bologna (85:87 against Trento), Red Star Belgrade (102:107 at Mega Leks), Hapoel Tel Aviv (83:93 in the cup against Jerusalem), Panathinaikos Athens (95:102 after overtime at Aris Thessaloniki), Efes Istanbul (80:87 at Merkezefendi), Lyon-Villeurbanne (90:99 in Dijon) – and Paris Basketball, which lost 87:103 at home on Sunday against Boulazac, currently 12th in the table.
The French champions had already celebrated their coup in the EuroLeague last Tuesday: Coach Francesco Tabellini's team ended Real Madrid's five-game winning streak with an impressive 98:92 (50:42) victory, their eighth of the season (8:16). Against the Madrid team, US guard Jared Rhoden (12.3 ppg, previously Toronto Raptors), who was signed in the fall, scored the decisive baskets in crunch time alongside Hifi (21 points). On Sunday, two starters took a break compared to the Real game: the second-best scorer behind national player Nadir Hifi (19.3 ppg), US guard Justin Robinson (14.5 ppg, 4.5 apg), and Yakuba Quattara (6.8).
Best team in offensive rebounding
Paris is the best EuroLeague team in offensive rebounding (14.7 rpg), thanks in part to Lamar Stevens (8.2 ppg), who played for Detroit and Memphis in the NBA last season. Bayern celebrated their first away win in the first leg, ultimately winning 86-82. The rematch also promises to be highly exciting. Coach Svetislav Pesic should be able to call on Neno Dimitrijevic, Vladimir Lucic, Andreas Obst, and Jo Voigtmann again. They were rested against Ulm.
“Paris are a transition-oriented team, they run the fast break and crash the offensive glass. In this department, they’re one of the best teams in the EuroLeague,” said Coach Pesic, adding: “Everyone talks about their strong offense — I’m also talking about their defense, which is very unorthodox because of their specific pressing system. We have to be ready for that. If we want to control the game, we need to replicate our defensive performances from recent EuroLeague games. Then the offense will take care of itself.”