Risotto was served upstairs in the SAP Garden shortly before midnight, a welcome refreshment after the enormous effort that had just been completed and the next one that was about to begin. The second part of the third double week takes the Bayern basketball players to the Turkish metropolis on Wednesday afternoon, where an undoubtedly unpleasant host awaits them: Fenerbahce Istanbul is not only the reigning EuroLeague champion, but is also likely to be highly motivated on Thursday (7:45 p.m./MagentaSport) after its unexpected defeat at home on Tuesday against newcomer Dubai (69:93).
With only one win, at home against Paris in their opener, the team led by successful coach Saras Jasikevicius has fallen miles short of its own expectations. “The fact that Fener lost on Tuesday is certainly not good for us,” suspects his Munich counterpart Gordon Herbert. “It's still early in the season for many teams that had players at the European Championships. Sometimes it takes many weeks. But they are the EuroLeague champions and will be motivated. Just like us after our great team performance against Milan.”
National Cup on Monday against Braunschweig
Bayern are on track given their personnel situation after a defensive battle against Milan (64-53) and a second home win. Playmaker Stefan Jovic was still missing, but he could possibly return to training before Monday's cup round of 16 (8 p.m./BMW Park). Center Wenyen Gabriel once again provided effective reinforcement in the paint (5 rebounds, 2 blocks). And point guard Kamar Baldwin, who started for Jovic, also played the entire summer (with Georgia) like the German European champions – and two or three three-pointers fell just short. But the left-hander, like many others off the bench, stepped up with heart and commitment, playing 27 minutes with only one turnover, but three steals and assists and eleven points.
Unexpected defeat against Dubai
Ignoring fatigue like Baldwin and pushing through the team play praised by Herbert, especially in defense, is now also needed in the Ulker Arena. Fenerbahce has kept the rough framework of the successful team together, starting with the guard duo Wade Baldwin (16.5 ppg) and Devon Hall (13.2), plus Bonzie Colson (10.0), Khem Birch, Nico Melli and Tarik Biberovic. However, the integration of newcomers Mikael Jantunen (Paris) and Armando Bacot (G-League) is clearly taking time, especially since the latter, like Brandon Boston (New Orleans, 151 NBA games) and top scorer Talen Horton-Tucker (24/16.5 ppg, 305 NBA games), signed from the Chicago Bulls, were missing against Dubai due to injury.
Scottie Wilbekin made his comeback after missing the season. The Fener squad also includes national player Onuralp Bitim, who was signed by Bayern during the preseason.