The schedule for Bayern Basketball's exciting playoff series against EuroLeague favorites FC Barcelona is set: The best-of-five series against the Spanish champion and cup winner begins for the underdog with two away games at the Palau Blaugrana after Easter on April 19 and 21 (Tues./Thurs., 21:00 and 20:00., respectively) before moving to Munich's Audi Dome.
Game three will take place there on Wednesday, April 27th, starting at 19:00. Should the FCBB be able to force a fourth clash, this would take place just two days later, again at the Audi Dome (Fri., Apr. 29th, 20:45.).
„Barcelona is the Favorite“
"We are ready for the playoffs, but we also know that Barça is the best team. They lost only seven games in the regular season," said head coach Andrea Trinchieri after the sensational 97-88 (34-52) win at Real Madrid, the second Spanish playoff team, which unexpectedly lost second place due to the home defeat. "We finished eighth with all our problems. They are the favorite and we will try to fight."
Paul Zipser, who with his five points - like the other bench players Andreas Obst (9) or Deschaun Thomas (16) - supported the spectacular turnaround of a 63-36 rush in the second half, said about the Madrid coup, the first win in club history at Real: "I would say that we slept through the first half. But at halftime we said, okay, now we'll get out. We then still found a lot of energy, many helped and you could tell the cohesion with us in front and behind was there, that was just fun."
And about the next task: "I think we can use this gained self-confidence well in the next weeks. Of course, a trip like the one we've had now isn't easy. But we know how it works and with the fans back now, it's a little easier. Now we want to perform professionally in Giessen and not throw away our self-confidence again. It's important to take that into the playoffs. Barcelona is without question a great team. But with a phase like the one we had in the second half against Real, we always have chances. We need to bring that to the floor more often."
Tip-Off in Giessen at 15:00
The FCBB, however, are still not in Munich and on Saturday afternoon a plane brought the squad from Madrid to Siegerland Airport. They continued by bus to Giessen, where the fifth game since last weekend is to be played on Sunday.
The game kicks off at 15:00., and in addition to MagentaSport, Sport1 will also be broadcasting on free TV this time.
Die gastgebenden Jobstairs 46ers stehen erneut vor dem Abstieg, vor einem Jahr hielt man die Klasse über eine Wildcard. Bei 12:38 Punkten haben die Hessen momentan vier Siege Rückstand auf den Tabellen-16. MBC (20:36), allerdings auch noch drei Spiele mehr zu absolvieren.
Im Fokus der Defense dürfte Point Guard Kendale McCallum (14,8 PpS), der Amerikaner spielte in den vergangenen Wochen auf und war mit 25 Punkten wieder Topscorer beim jüngsten Heimsieg gegen Konkurrent Oldenburg (88:75).
46ers im Abstiegskampf
Die Bayern verloren vor einem Jahr 94:95, nachdem sie damals gegen Kaunas den erstmaligen Einzug eines BBL-Teams in die EuroLeague Playoffs gefeiert hatten.Auch das Hinspiel, 71:64 für die Münchner nach Verlängerung, war eine knappe Angelegenheit.
Angesichts der zwangsläufigen Niederlage vor einer Woche in Oldenburg nur 19 Stunden nach dem erneuten Playoff-Einzug gegen Belgrad will der Tabellenzweite (38:14) aber sicher nicht weiteren Boden verlieren. Immerhin, am Samstagabend war diesmal Zeit für ein leichtes Regenerationstraining in der Sporthalle Ost.