There are still five games left in the EuroLeague calendar - and the race for the final playoff spots is coming to a head. A single victory lies between sixth and eleventh place, which the Bayern basketball team currently occupies with a 12-13 record. The German champions recently felt the effects of their difficult second round schedule and have lost three of the last four games. Nevertheless, the first participation of a German team in the knockout round of the premier league is by no means impossible.
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For the BBL leaders, the rest of the schedule will start tomorrow, Thursday March 14 with a tough road game in Lithuania against Zalgiris Kaunas (10-15 record) before they will play against a top rival at the moment in Olympiakos (13-12) next Tuesday, and finally FC Barcelona in the Audi Dome on Thursday (March 21st at 20:00) After this hectic few days they go once again to Istanbul to battle Darussafaka and end the regular season at home against 14th place Gran Canaria (5.4., 20:00).
The away game in Kaunas starts at 19:00 and will be broadcast live by MagentaSport and FC Bayern TV as usual. The next home game takes place on Sunday (17.3., 15:00) against the MBC.
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After a week with defeats against Tel Aviv and in the BBL at Vechta, the team around coach Dejan Radonjic takes a new fighting approach. "After the last defeats, we're all hot for a victory and know that we have to fight hard in Kaunas,"
Captain Danilo Barthel discussed the situation before the departure on Wednesday morning:"Of course, this is generally an important game in the race for the playoffs. We are aware of how difficult it is in the heated and noisy atmosphere of Kaunas. But we are ready and come with new motivation."
Host Zalgiris, the Final Four participant of the previous season and national champion at home since 1994, has only theoretical chances for the renewed playoff participation this time. But after a weaker phase, Sarunas Jasikevicius's team won their last three home games. In addition to the energetic head coach, the domestic Zalgirio Arena is the second driving force behind the Lithuanian series champions, who are passionately cheered on by around 15,000 fans when they sell out.
"They have a great tradition, their hall is always full and provides a great atmosphere," said coach Radonjic. "They also have a well-travlled team and are very well coached. Of course this will be a difficult game for us, but we want to play it with a lot of energy and present ourselves as well as we can".
Topscorer of Zalgiris is US-Center Brandon Davies (14,1 ppg). There will also be a reunion with Deon Thompson, who moved from Spain to Kaunas two months ago: The Power Forward belonged to the Munich champions team in 2014 and played a total of 60 BBL games (10.6 ppg) for the Bavarians. For Kaunas, he has been on the floor for an average of around ten minutes (4.3 ppg) in eight games so far.
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The Bavarian schedule:
- Thu., 14.3., 19:00: Zalgiris Kaunas - FCBB (EuroLeague)
- Sun, 17.3., 15:00: FCBB - Mitteldeutscher BC (easyCredit BBL)
- Tue, 19.3., 20:00: Olympiakos Piraeus - FCCB (EL)
- Thu, 21.3., 20:00: FCBB - FC Barcelona (EL)
- Tue, 26.3., 20:30: Würzburg - FCBB (BBL)
- Fri, 29.3., 18:15: Darussafaka Istanbul - FCBB (EL)
- Sun., 31.3., 16:30: FCBB - Ludwigsburg (BBL)
- Fri, 5.4., 20:00.: FCBB - Gran Canaria (EL)
- Sun 7.4., 18:00.: Frankfurt - FCBB (BBL)
- Thu, 11.4., 20:00.: Ludwigsburg - FCBB (BBL)
- Sun., 14.4., 16:30: FCBB - Braunschweig (BBL)
- 19.04, 15:00: FCBB - Crailsheim (BBL)
- Sun, 28.4, 18:00: Berlin - FCBB (BBL)
- Tue, 30.4., 20:30: FCBB - Bamberg (BBL)
- So., 5.5., 15:00: Casting - FCBB (BBL)
- Fri, 10.5., 20:30: FCBB - Ulm (BBL)