The arguably toughest task of the season was indeed tough: Despite an overall courageous performance, FC Bayern Basketball lost 79:87 (41:47) to title favorite Panathinaikos Athens in their EuroLeague opener. The German champions couldn't stop Athens' scoring in the paint often enough against last season's strongest home team, but stayed within striking distance until the final quarter.
Top scorers in front of 18.480 fans: Mike (16), Rathan-Mayes (16) and Gabriel (11).
EuroLeague home opener on Thursday
The action continues immediately: The day after returning from Greece, Bayern will face their Play-In opponent from last season at Munich's SAP Garden – the home game against Crvena Zvezda Belgrade (82:92 at home against Milan) tips off on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Game 3 of the week is the BBL home opener on Sunday (6 p.m.) at BMW Park against Hamburg.
After three joint training sessions and still without European champions Hollatz (rest) and Voigtmann as well as Harris (both rehab) and long-term patient Jokubaitis (knee surgery), Bayern took on the challenge against last season's best home team. They led 8:4 and 18:17 (9th minute), unfazed by the atmosphere, with Jovic orchestrating.
Panathinaikos Athen - FC Bayern Basketball 87:79 (47:41)
- FCBB:Xavier Rathan-Mayes (18 points, 8 assists), Isiaha Mike (18), Wenyen Gabriel (13), Justinian Jessup (9, 5 rebounds), David McCormack (6), Kamar Baldwin (6), Stefan Jovic (4), Vladimir Lucic (3, 8 rebounds), Niels Giffey (2), Oscar da Silva, Andreas Obst, Leon Kratzer
- Topscorer AthenKendrick Nunn (21 points)
- RefereeIlija Belosevic, Uros Nikolic und Maxime Boubert
- Attendance18.480
Top scorer Isiaha Mike
Matching Pana's physicality under their own basket was the major challenge, alongside the individual quality of the hosts led by star Nunn (21/10 assists). A 5:0 foul count by the refs against Bayern after just two minutes of the second quarter made it even harder. Two Baldwin three-pointers for 30:29 (15th minute) made it clear - the visitors were ready to fight.
However, Athens continued to get to the board too easily, and 50:60 was the first gap (26th minute). Panathinaikos maintained this lead fairly consistently despite Munich's great effort - 18 offensive rebounds, 38:30 overall. Bayern couldn't mount a real comeback run, also missing too many three-pointers.
Ouotes:
Gordon Herbert, Head Coach FC Bayern Basketball: "Congratulations to Coach Ataman and his team. The positive is that we did a good job on the offensive boards. On the negative side, the defensive intensity wasn't where it needed to be. The guys played hard overall, but we couldn't close the gap. The last two, three minutes of the first half hurt us here, and we couldn't quite come back after that."
Isiaha Mike: "Obviously we're disappointed with the result because it was actually close for almost the entire game. I think we just need a bit more time to develop the right chemistry on the court. We also didn't make our shots, which hurt at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second. And the guys who took those shots are capable of making them. Defensively, what hurt us most was that towards the end of the game we just couldn't form a strong enough wall together. All in all: not a terrible game from us, but we definitely have areas where we need to improve. But we can certainly build on this performance."