The second half remains the obstacle on the away tour through Europe: At Partizan Belgrade, Bayern's basketball players were once again inconsistent on both sides of the court after leading 43:36 at halftime - amid the infernal noise of 17,300 fans, the German champions lost 85:92. The decisive factors were 14 offensive rebounds and even more Munich turnovers (17-6). Spencer Dinwiddie was the top scorer with 25 points.
On Sunday, Bayern finally have a home game again after three weeks away: at the “Music meets Basketball” event with top act “Zartmann,” they want to defend their BBL lead at BMW Park at 3 p.m. Their opponents are Weißenfels.
In Belgrade, head coach Gordon Herbert was missing two playmakers, Baldwin and Jovic. Dinwiddie initially took on the playmaking role in the starting five; three-pointers from him, Obst, and Lucic made it 11:4 and forced Partizan to call their first timeout. The defense then conceded points on their own board, but Mayes' buzzer jumper kept the lead at 22:16 at the end of the quarter.
Partizan Belgrad - FC Bayern Basketball 92:85 (36:43)
- FCBB:Spencer Dinwiddie (25 points), Vladimir Lucic (17), Xavier Rathan-Mayes (11), Jo Voigtmann (10, 18 rebounds, 7 assists), Andreas Obst (9), Isiaha Mike (7), Justus Hollatz (2), Wenyen Gabriel (2), Oscar da Silva, Justinian Jessup, Niels Giffey, Leon Kratzer (d.n.p.)
- Topscorer Partizan:Duane Washington (22 points)
- RefereeMiguel Angel Perez, Arturas Sukys und Thomas Bissuel
- Attendance17.300
Voigtmann with eleven rebounds at halftime
Partizan's athleticism had to be matched in defense, despite Mayes' next basket to make it 30:24 (14th minute). Munich's shooting percentages dropped overall, and they also waited in vain for appropriate foul calls during this phase – a 0:10 downer, 30:34 (16th minute). But thanks to clever moves by Dinwiddie and Voigtmann as well as rebounds, the visitors turned the score around again before the break.
Two minutes without points and physicality in defense allowed Partizan, who were continually cheered on by the hall singing the praises of retired coach Obradovic, to pull ahead – 48:49 (25th minute). Center Jones enjoyed plenty of freedom under the basket, and a lack of boxing out and turnovers annoyingly gave Belgrade the momentum (62:75/33.).
Dinwiddie cuts the lead to 77:79
Munich's first team returned – and Dinwiddie actually reduced the deficit to 77:79 with eight points (37th minute). But that had taken its toll, and the many careless mistakes allowed Partizan to build a bridge again and again at decisive moments. The sixth win of the season did not come on the 14th match day either.
The quotes:
Gordon Herbert, Chefcoach FC Bayern Basketball: "Congratulations to Partizan. With 17 turnovers and 14 lost rebounds against them on the defensive board, they had 20 more possessions than us because of those numbers. That makes it very difficult to win a basketball game. We were on the right track in the first half, but we lost momentum right at the start of the third quarter. (...) I texted Zeljko Obradovic a few days ago. Obviously, the situation was a bit strange, but our focus was only on ourselves."
Isiaha Mike: “We lost the ball too often and gave up too many offensive rebounds. Our offense stagnated a bit in the second half against switches. We'll watch the video together and prepare even better for teams that can switch with length. Hopefully we can end the losing streak next week. This loss has nothing to do with the atmosphere here, we have to improve.”