The Bayern Basketball season, already more eventful than any before in ten years of BBL, is heading for its first highlight games: Next weekend, the Munich team will host the Top Four for the German Cup in the Audi Dome, before immediately traveling to Lombardy in Italy for the first two EuroLeague playoff games of any German team in history. They will face favored star ensemble Olimpia Milan around Sergio Rodriguez, Malcolm Delaney and Kyle Hines. However, the day-to-day business of the BBL, in which the FCBB are aiming for the title but have recently been unable to overcome the heavy burden they have been under, remains just as important. After three losses in the last four Bundesliga games, the next balancing act is already on the horizon on Tuesday evening, when they host the Telekom Baskets in Bonn at 18:30. In order to secure the desired home court advantage in the first round of the BBL playoffs, the 23rd victory in the 30th game would suit suit third-place Bayern well.
In addition to MagentaSport (from 18:15), Sport1 will also be broadcasting Munich's guest game in the Telekom Dome on Tuesday evening on free TV.
Trinchieri back on the bench
Head coach Andrea Trinchieri returns to the FCBB bench after Sunday's 85-83 loss to the Braunschweig Lions. He has to adjust his team to a host that will receive the favorite without pressure despite three losses in a row - most recently a narrow 91-88 defeat in Crailsheim - and in view of a clarified position between playoffs and relegation. Moreover, the Telekom Dome has not really been Bayern's favorite venue so far: Only three of their eight appearances there so far have ended in victory.
The personnel Trinchieri can rely on will only be decided on game day. Nick Weiler-Babb has started training again after his foot injury, but the reunion and first ever duel on the court with his brother, Bonn's top scorer Chris Babb (17.2 ppg), is naturally not the top priority. Second top scorer the 14th-placed team is the Serbian power forward Strahinja Micovic (13,9. ppg, 41 % threes), who came over from MBC.
Bayern returns to Munich on Wednesday morning. Late Friday afternoon, they - like the other Top Four participants Ulm (FCBB semifinal opponent on Saturday, 16:00/free access on MagentaSport), Goettingen and Berlin - will move into the tournament hotel "Leonardo Royal" near Munich's Olympic grounds.