Bayern starts disappointingly into the Final10

The FC Bayern Munich basketball team suffered a difficult loss in the opening game of the BBL Finals tournament in the Audi Dome: The defending champions were defeated due to weaknesses on defense and in rebounding and lost with a final score of 95-85 against an impressive performance by Ulm. Despite a strong performance from the three-point line (54%), the Munich team lost control of the game after holding a 33-25 lead before the break. Simply put, too many shots were missed by the FCBB while the Swabians (eight steals) also managed to score 33 points in the final quarter.   

Already on Monday (6.6, 16:30) the duel with the third-place team from the regular season, Crailsheim, is scheduled to faceoff against Bayern. They also surprisingly lost their opening game of the Final10 (89-78 against Goettingen). FCBB fans can also watch this game together at the "Audi Urban Cinema" drive-in cinema at Munich Airport, which was sold out at the public viewing premiere.

Tickets Audi Urban Cinema

Points per quarter Bayern-Ulm: 20-18, 20-23, 18-21, 27-33.

Stats: Two-point shooting: 38% (FCBB) // 61% (Ulm); three-point shooting: 54% // 36%; rebounding: 30 // 36; assists: 22 // 20;  turnovers: 15 // 8.

Quotes:

FCBB head coach, Oliver Kostic: "We discussed before the game that we had to play with intensity and physicality but unfortunately we were too soft. We allowed Ulm to score. With this confidence their defense became much more aggressive and we suffered too many turnovers. But this is a tournament, we can't think long and hard about what happened, but have to keep the good things in mind and show a different face against Crailsheim."

"Of course the atmosphere was special, everything is different now. It was very strange in the hall, but it's the same situation for everyone."

Danilo Barthel: "We weren't aggressive enough, we let Ulm do what they want and they could run their offense. So 33 points were scored in the last quarter. Greg (Monroe) was our top option in the Low Post for many months this season but of course he and Nihad (Djedovic) are missing. But we want and have to solve this differently."

"Playing without fans was a bit strange. We missed the push of the fans. But we have to manage to generate more energy out of ourselves. We have to be much more aggressive against Crailsheim and keep cool heads now."

Maodo Lo: "Defensively everything went wrong. We were not able to defend the pick & roll and were extremely bad in one on one. We also didn't hit open shots and were not in rhythm offensively. We're not in the flow yet and we played weakly, especially defensively. We were lucky that it was not a deciding game. If we continue to play like this, we won't win much here, especially if the opponents are as strong and in rhythm as Ulm is today. We have to improve now and have a better plan - especially defensively."

Jaka Lakovic: Coach Ulm: "Our gameplan worked well but above all the players did a great job. We fought great and showed a great mentality, especially when Bayern made it close again in the last quarter."

1st half
The FCBB started the game with Maodo Lo, Petteri Koponen, Vladimir Lucic, Danilo Barthel and Mathias Lessort in the first game back after an 89-day break. At the beginning, the Munich team managed to only score from outside where Barthel took a comfortable 15-8 lead after six minutes. But the guests were not impressed and tied the game shortly before the first quarter break, 18-18. The hosts continued to score from outside in the second quarter (57% from three at half-time), thanks in particular to Koponen, who scored each of his three attempts from downtown. Carelessness on defense and weak shooting from inside the arc (3/12) kept Ulm in the game - and gave the opponents their first lead with one miniute to play int he half, 41-37. Lucic, top scorer of the first half with twelve points, scored the final points of the first half to bring the score to  41-40, Ulm holding the slight lead.

2nd half 
Shortly after the break, Matthias Lessort turned the game around again before the Ulm team regained the lead with a 5-0 run (50-47) - and did not give it up again. Too many turnovers (FCBB 15, Ulm 8) and no answer on defense against Ulmer guards ultimately lead to the first BBL home defeat for Bayern in the current season. 15 of 28 threes fell in the end for the FCBB but Paul Zipser in particular kept the Munich squad in the game. In the end, Ulm put in the better performance and ended up with the victory.

The course of the game can be seen on the live ticker:

The best pictures of the game

Photo-Credit: Duda & Wiedensohler

Die weiteren Ergebnisse

Das Auftaktspiel gewann etwas überraschend die BG Göttingen gegen den vormaligen Rundendritten Crailsheim 89:78 (51:42). Bester Werfer der BG war Bennet Hundt (30), beim Verlierer machte der von den Bayern ausgeliehene Marvin Ogunsipe sechs Zähler. Crailsheim ist am Montag (8.6., 16.30 Uhr) zweiter Gegner des FCBB.)