Weakened Bayern lose to Real Madrid

On gameday 29, FC Bayern Basketball had no chance of claiming their 13th win of the season; the German champions, once again weakened by absences, lost clearly 70–93 (33–53) to Spain’s titleholders Real Madrid. A few poor minutes midway through the second quarter (21–34) already led to too large a deficit against the EuroLeague’s fourth-placed team, making a contest on equal terms impossible given the personnel situation. The top Munich scorer in front of 9,700 spectators was Justinian Jessup with 17 points.

After a weekend without a game, Bayern must make another push, with their host next Friday being the in-form playoff contender Red Star Belgrade.

Full boxscore

From 18:22 to 24:42

The restart after the disappointing cup performance did not get off to a good start in the Spanish capital: although center energizer Gabriel, who was missed in the cup semifinal, was able to report fit again, coach Pesic was missing three European champions. Obst and Hollatz are now ill, and Kratzer is with the national team; his spot was taken by Fischer, 19, from the ProB team.

Jessup top scorer

Four points and three turnovers after just under seven minutes—the visitors did not get into the game well (4:15). Real exploited their physical advantages and pushed in transition. Not much worked at first either, but Munich’s shooting numbers still left room for improvement.

Jessup’s first two three-pointers immediately cut it to 18:22 (12th), but it then quickly became a game of missed chances and surrendered rebounds—from 20:25 to 24:42 (16th).

Real moved the ball too well overall (28 assists) and hit almost half of their threes. The outmatched Munich side battled as hard as they could, but Jessup and playmaker Dimitrijevic would have needed more support on offense. Only eight points in the third quarter weighed on morale. But Bayern took the final quarter, 23:15.

Quotes: 

Svetislav Pesic, head coach of FC Bayern Basketball: “Madrid deserved to win; they played excellent basketball today. For us, the game came at a difficult moment. Madrid didn’t win the Copa del Rey, which people expect from them, and we were in a tough situation. Some players are sick, some have physical problems. I can’t say that on a day when everyone is fit we would win this game, but that’s the situation. (…) Real have so much talent; we don’t have that, but we have other qualities. (…) We won the first game against Real in Munich and, in recent weeks, also against other favorites like Monaco, Panathinaikos, or Hapoel. We can beat these teams when the team is in good physical condition and we have all our players. (…) But we are not right now—Obst and Hollatz are struggling with a virus. (…) The best medicine in this tough EuroLeague competition system is a few days of rest, physically as well as mentally.”

Vladimir Lucic: “They dominated us. We weren’t in the condition today to be able to compete here in Madrid. That can’t be helped. We’ll fight to play better again.”