In the drizzle, the Bayern Basketball team bus struggled through Istanbul's traffic chaos on Tuesday morning, across to the other, European side of the Bosporus. 48 hours after the Munich team's first make-up game in Istanbul at Fenerbahce (81-76 Fener), they will meet the second Turkish top team in the EuroLeague, the defending champion Efes Istanbul. The game tips off at 19:30 on Wednesday, with MagentaSport broadcasting live as usual.
Like Bayern, the previous season's triple winners have already qualified for the playoffs. With a 15-11 record, the team around superstar Shane Larkin is currently fifth in the standings, and the eighth-placed Munich team is likely to face a quarterfinal match-up with main round winners FC Barcelona in the knockout round. The best-of-five series begins for them in any case with two away games (starting April 19/20), the first home game at the Audi Dome will be on April 26 or 27 - tickets are already available.
"Reduce mistakes on defense"
"The second game of our triple week is the clash with the reigning EuroLeague champions - and in my opinion, they are one of the strongest candidates for the title again this year," said Bayern head coach Andrea Trinchieri. "We have to find the energy on Wednesday to be able to compete against one of the best offensive teams ever. Above all, we have to reduce the number of mistakes on defense, like we had against Fenerbahce."
The hosts started the season with just two wins from their first eight games, a similar pattern to the most successful year in the club's history. They have won seven of their last ten games and are the deepest squad in the top flight alongside the star ensembles of Barca and Real Madrid.
One more week until Jan Delay returns
Efes continues to be led by the guard duo of Larkin (14.4 ppg) and former Bayern youngster Vasilije Micic, who has once again increased his offensive output to a personal record with an average of 18.1 points. The 28-year-old Serb was injured recently, and it is unclear whether or not he will play. Nevertheless, Efes will certainly not lack quality in front of probably around 10,000 fans again; German center Tibor Pleiss (9.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg) is also in good form.
The FCBB, who will then play Real in Spain on Friday (20:45), are still missing Corey Walden (9.8 ppg) and Nick Weiler-Babb (5.5 ppg; 3.9 rpg), who did not take part in the week-long away trip. It ends on Sunday with the BBL game in Giessen (15:00). Next home appearance of the Munich team on Wednesday in a week (April 13, 20:00) the "Music meets Basketball" event against the MBC with the concert highlight "Jan Delay & die Delaydies & DJ Mad".