There has been a recent success of the team, achieved on the basis of that "identity" of which the head coach has often spoken of. The Bayern basketball team has convincingly bounced back in the EuroLeague after two losses with the important home victory against the Turkish top team of Fenerbahce Istanbul. "We were away twice with a double-digit lead, they came back twice, but we held our ground," said Andrea Trinchieri late in the evening after the valuable 71-63 victory, before the ailing cold patient quickly headed home.
The 53-year-old Italian was back in the office the next morning, however for the double-header week in the top division which will be completed on Thursday evening with the clash at the Audi Dome with Greek champion Panathinaikos Athens. The game kicks off just 45 hours after the final siren on Tuesday, at 20:30 on Thursday evening.
NBA pro Macon stands out
Thus, the Munich team has a quick chance to improve on its success over Fener with a possible fifth win and thus re-establish contact with the front of the pack in the standings. However, "Pana" - like Fenerbahce on Tuesday - also needs every success, so that a contested duel can be expected again. The Greek record champions (40 titles) and six-time winners of the top competition lost to last-place Kaunas (76-69) on Tuesday and will be desperate to make amends.
"There is no time for anything now but to try to recover somehow and get ready for another tough fight," Trinchieri said Wednesday. "In this moment physical and mental energy are key, for us and also for Panathinaikos. It's back-to-back at home, though, so I hope we can make the extra mile to be able to defend our home court."
Like Bayern, which is missing Radosevic, Sisko and Zipser, Panathinaikos was missing a key player in Lithuania in Nemanja Nedovic; however, the Serbian guard (8.3 ppg) could apparently be back at the Audi Dome. The visitors' outstanding scorer so far has been U.S. guard Daryl Macon; the former NBA pro (Dallas, Miami) is currently the second-best EuroLeague scorer with an average of 17.4 points. His percentages are outstanding with 70 percent on twos and almost 46 percent from distance.
The capital club also has the league's best rebounder (as of Nov. 16) in its ranks, with 22-year-old national center Georgios Papagiannis catching 7.6 rebounds per game plus 7.8 points - he measures in at 7ft2. The collective behavior in rebounding will again be of great importance.
Bayern forward Deshaun Thomas (9.6 ppg), who played for Athens from 2018 to 2020, will meet good acquaintances. "Personally, I'm looking forward to the game, of course, because I will see many familiar faces and friends again," says the 30-year-old American. "Panathinaikos also has a very good, new team and I'm sure that with the quality, it just needs to click that they win more games. We have to be ready for that and we want to prevent that on Thursday."