Dazed and euphoric at the same time from a spectacular evening in the Audi Dome, Bayern Basketball left the hall after midnight. The unexpected 83-77 triumph over the star ensemble of Olimpia Milan, which had been undefeated in the EuroLeague as well as in national competition up to that point, was without question the highlight of the season so far. The impressive overall performance of the team around head coach Andrea Trinchieri had turned the hall, filled with a good 4,000 fans, into a madhouse and swept everyone including President Herbert Hainer from his seat.
"It was an atmosphere here that we were able to turn it around with in the last quarter, that really gave us the final push," Game MVP Corey Walden (eight points in the 10-0 run to make the decisive push to 76-67) raved about the intense atmosphere in the Audi Dome. And General Manager Marko Pesic said, "What a game, what a performance, what an atmosphere - basketball is finally back in the Audi Dome."
Will they succeed with a fifth success in a row?
The next highlight will be in a week when Real Madrid visits the Audi Dome (Friday, 5.11., 20.30), but before that the FCBB are still three times in action on the road: in the BBL on Sunday in Bayreuth, on Tuesday in Würzburg - and just 45 hours after the energy-sapping coup over Milan in the eagerly awaited German EuroLeague derby of the seventh gameday in Berlin at Alba (Thursday, 20).
What's more, the game will be broadcast on Thursday evening on the MagentaSport platforms free to all, i.e. without a subscription; it will start at 19:45 with a quarter-hour lead-in.
"We're playing against the reigning champions, who have had a good start in the EuroLeague," coach Trinchieri said of the opponent. "They are a well-oiled machine, playing with a lot of confidence under the direction of their leaders Lo and Sikma. To their system they have now added da Silva, who is also a big financial investment and currently the best German big man. We ourselves are just developing our identity through games and definitely want to put up a great fight again."
After the second win in a row, Bayern, slowed down for weeks by injuries and Corona cases, have caught up with Berlin in the top flight. The hosts picked up wins against Fenerbahce Istanbul and Red Star Belgrade (both now 2-4 in the top league). On Tuesday, they lost 87-83 in Piraeus, trailing the entire game before fighting to make it close in the final quarter.
The 60th German classic
It is the 60th edition of the German classic. Bayern currently leads 35-23 all-time after the duels in the BBL (28-18), EuroLeague (3-0), EuroCup (1 win, 1 draw) and Cup (3-4). The FCBB triumphed most recently in the German Cup final 85-79, Alba in the playoff finals 3:1. In the championship series Paul Zipser was missing completely and to a large extent also Leon Radosevic who are both still in rebuilding training.
In Berlin, former assistant Israel Gonzalez has taken over from coach Aíto. New to the Spaniard's team are guard Jaleen Smith (7 ppg, from Ludwigsburg), Yovel Zoosman (7.8 ppg, Maccabi Tel Aviv) and point guard Tamir Blatt (5.3 ppg, Jerusalem), as well as German NBA prospect Oscar da Silva (15.4) who signed from Ludwigsburg just before the start of the season. A core with former Bayern guard Maodo Lo (15.2 ppg) and Luke Sikma (12.3) has been retained again while most recently Marcus Eriksson and center Ben Lammers were missing from it due to injury (at FCBB, in addition to Radosevic and Zipser, playmaker Zan Mark Sisko).
In the BBL, Berlin surprisingly lost at home against Goettingen on the weekend, the third defeat in the fifth league game. For the FCBB, the surprise against Milan was their fourth competitive game win in a row.