The Bavarians have had a good start to the season with three wins in six days, now the next task is three games in five days. On Wednesday morning the German champions travel to Russia, where the highest possible hurdle has to be overcome on the following evening for the second EuroLeague matchup: Defending champion ZSKA Moscow plays host to the Bavarians - tip-off at 19:00 CEST, MagentaSport will broadcast the game live.
On Friday the team returns and already on Saturday (12.10.) will face the Lions from Braunschweig who have also started the season with three victories. Again two days later, on Monday evening (14.10., 20:30 CEST), the first K.O.-game of the season is scheduled as the Telekom Baskets from Bonn come to the Audi Dome to qualify for the German Cup quarter finals.
Like Bayern, ZSKA Moscow also started with a victory in the premier class. In the 96-71 win against EuroCup champ, Valencia, the two prominent newcomers stood out: US-Guard Darrun Hilliard, who came over from Vítoria, was the top scorer with 22 points ahead of the #1 scorer of the last EuroLeague season, Mike James (Milan/20 points).
The second defeat against St. Petersburg
In the Eastern European VTB League, however, they lost their first game at Krasnoyarsk two weeks ago (80-71). And also on Monday evening the star team of coach Dimitris Itoudis experienced an unpleasant surprise: The home game against Zenit St. Petersburg was lost 82-79 as James' last second three missed the mark. Hilliard (16) and his compatriot (12) could not prevent the second defeat in three games. The question now is: Which ZSKA will show up on Thursday?
The fact that the top clubs still have to get used to the double burden can also be seen from a look at Spain: FC Barcelona (86-84 lossin Andorra) as well as Vítoria-Gasteiz (78-77 loss against Malaga) on Sunday evening.
Braunschweig still undefeated, too
In the BBL the Bavarians are expecting their first top game on Saturday evening. Braunschweig not only won their cup duel in Ludwigsburg (90-87), but also their first two league games in Goettingen (96-77) and against Ulm (94-88). Karim Jallow from the FCBB junior team has played a big role for the team of the new coach Pete Strobl so far, averaging 16 points and six rebounds against Ulm in 27 minutes.
The German Cup round of sixteen will end on Monday evening with the last game. Should the FCBB win against Bonn, the cup winner from 2018 would meet Oldenburg in mid-December. Meanwhile, the Bonn team recently celebrated their first BBL victory against Frankfurt (77-76) after a dramatic comeback and have also qualified for the group phase of the third highest European competition, the Champions League, with two clear victories over Fribourg from Switzerland.