The Munich team went to bed early on Saturday evening as there is little time for celebration after any successes at the Fiinal10 tournament for the German Championship held in Munich. There was little time to rest after the last game before the round final for second-place against Oldenburg. With another win, sthe defending champion would secure second place behind group winner Ulm and thus meet the third-place team of Pool B in the first of two quarter-final duels next Thursday (18.6.). Tip-off at the Audi Dome is at 20:30. If they were to lose to Oldenburg as third in the first play-off round, they would have to face the second-place team from gtroup B, 24 hours earlier.
The duel for second place starts on Sunday evening (14.6.) at 19:00 -MagentaSport will broadcast from 18:45
The EWE Baskets tied with Bayern in points (4:2) had a difficult start into the tournament. A clear defeat against Ulm (85-66) was followed by a win against Goettingen (80-62) and on Friday the very tight 85-83 against Crailsheim, who were weakened by injuries. Their opponents will once again see two Munich champions of the previous season, Braydon Hobbs and Robin Amaize - who is on loan for a season.
Topscorer Boothe and Mahalbasic - old friends Hobbs and Amaize
"It's good to see them here again, they had a good time with us," said Bayern coach Oliver Kostic, "but we have to look to ourselves and continue to improve our game as we did against Goettingen, especially on defense."
Oldenburg is the only team besides Berlin to have kept their team together: Power forward Nathan Boothe, who was injured for seven months, has made his comeback at the Final10 and with 16.3 points is the top scorer behind only enter Rasid Mahalbasic (19.3 ppg 8 rpg).
"With Oldenburg it depends a bit on the day's form. They can play very fast on one day and on the other side in Braydon they have someone who organises the set play well", says FCBB veteran, Alex King. "So they've got a good mix and we've been struggling with them over the last few years, especially away from home."
Bayern has a "home game" this time according to the schedule. Their gameday presenter in the Audi Dome is GOP, the Munich Variety Theatre.