Southern Rivalry Game in the BBL
Sun | 30/01/22 | 09:03
The first-place team in the BBL faces Bayreuth
Club president Herbert Hainer personally congratulated the coach, while the players enjoyed the loud greetings from the stands: A splendid atmosphere prevailed on Friday evening after the hard-fought 62-56 victory of the Bayern basketball team in the German EuroLeague duel with Alba Berlin - because finally Andrea Trinchieri's team could once again be cheered on and celebrated by fans. A good 1,300 spectators had taken advantage of the option that had become possible at short notice and were rewarded with an immensely exciting battle of attrition, after which Bayern can now actually vaguely think about the EuroLeague playoffs again.
But the next tough tasks in the top flight at title contender FC Barcelona (Tuesday, 21:00) and against Maccabi Tel Aviv (Thursday, 20:30) are still a long way off as the Bundesliga leader's next opponent is Bayreuth on Sunday (18:00). And the Upper Franconians will be hoping, as Munich's opponents regularly do, that the Bavarians are not yet fully recovered and focused less than 48 hours after a Euroleague showdown.
Korner's team still with playoff chances
The guests from Bayreuth have done well in recent weeks despite various injuries, and with a 16-18 points record, the team in tenth place in the standings is still in touch with the playoffs. Last weekend, Braunschweig was defeated 94-92 in the final quarter. Top scorer was US guard Marcus Thornton with 27 points, double his usual average (13.4 ppg). He is now also narrowly the top scorer of his team ahead of forward Sacar Anim (13.3 ppg), who scored the points against Braunschweig to win the game.
In the absence of the injured center Andreas Seiferth (9.3 ppg), the outstanding player in the frontcourt has been Lithuanian Martynas Sajus, who increased his average to 11.1 points and 8.1 rebounds (BBL rank 2). Captain Bastian Doreth (8.2 ppg, 4.9 apg) is ready for action again after recovering from a toe injury.
Bayern won the first matchup 87-78 thanks to a good second half. It is still open whether guest coach Raoul Korner, who is ill with Corona, will be replaced again by assistant Mauricio Parra.