On the road again: The Bayern Basketball players left on Thursday for a seven-day road game trip with stops in Spain, Baden-Württemberg and France. In the EuroLeague, the first game will be the second matchup of the year with Baskonia Vítoria-Gasteiz on Friday evening (20:30) and next Tuesday (21:00) the make-up game at ASVEL Villeurbanne. On the road, head coach Andrea Trinchieri's team also has to prove itself as BBL first-place at Heidelberg, which has recently won two games - this game starts at 18:00 on Sunday.
As always this game will stream on MagentaSport live.
"Baskonia is a very strong team at home. We definitely want to do much better than in the first matchup, which was certainly one of our worst performances. We especially need to stop the transition game with them."
Vladimir Lucic about Baskonia
And, as is usually the case, the next task is the hardest, and this time that is certainly true: in the duel of two teams fighting for a place in the top third of the Euroleague the hosts, Baskonia (7-12) want to draw level with Bayern (8-11) and repeat their success from the first matchup. In the 81-76 loss just before Christmas, the Bavarians didn't manage much and Baskonia played a great game with good friend Wade Baldwin (30 points) putting in his best performance of the season.
A recent win against Barcelona proves their quality
Just how much quality this team has was recently felt by league leaders FC Barcelona - they were dismantled in the domestic duel like never before this season and lost clearly 94-75 in front of just under 8,000 fans.
"Baskonia is almost a different team at the Buesa Arena, where they play with even more energy and tempo," Coach Trinchieri said. "They destroyed Barcelona at home and also proved the quality and depth of their squad in the first game against us. But I'm confident we'll present ourselves differently this time."
In addition to Baldwin (12.3 ppg), noted forwards Simone Fontecchio and Rokas Giedraitis (11.3 each) also provide double-digit scoring on offense, while center Steven Enoch (10.2 ppg) also contributes nearly six rebounds per game. Long-injured American Alec Peters (2020/2021: 11.5 ppg) is now also available again as an option for new coach Neven Spahija.
Baldwin in form, Peters back in the lineup
In the Spanish ACB, Baskonia has improved to a 9-8 record and into the playoff ranks after a nice run in recent weeks. They won 79-78 in Andorra on Sunday, with top scorer Baldwin (22) scoring the winning basket; Peters, like Latvian guard Arturs Kurucs, finished with 12 points.
"Baskonia is a very strong team at home. We definitely want to do much better than in the first matchup, which was certainly one of our worst performances. Above all, we have to stop their transition game," said Vladimir Lucic, Munich's top scorer (13.3 ppg) in the absence of Darrun Hilliard (15.8), who returned to light individual training.