For Gameday eleven in the EuroLeague, the Bayern Basketball team welcomes Israel's record champion Maccabi Tel Aviv on Friday evening (20:30., Audi Dome). After three wins in the last five games, head coach Andrea Trinchieri's team is aiming for its fourth victory in the top class while the visitors (5-5) are looking to break an opposing trend. Maccabi came within one win of a promising 4-1 start and are looking to celebrate their first away win in Munich.
"This team is loaded with talent, their quality and athleticism are outstanding," Trinchieri said of Maccabi. "But we had a good week in France and managed to win one of the two close games. We are working every day to continue our solid development."
His team wants to show their improvement in their second home game at the Audi Dome in less than 48 hours: Starting at 18:00 on Sunday against Bayreuth where they will attempt to make it to the Top 4 of the German Cup.
Without Baldwin and Hilliard
The planned reunion with two good acquaintances has been cancelled at short notice in the duel with the 55-time Israeli champion and five-time EuroLeague winner: Wade Baldwin, who led Bayern in 2021 as the first German team into the playoffs of the top division, has been complaining about muscular problems since Sunday's home league loss against Hapoel Jerusalem (80-75). And Darrun Hilliard, Bayern's top scorer last season until his injury (13.7 ppg), has been suspended Both will not travel to Munich.
Despite these disappointments, new coach Oded Kattash, in his third engagement in Tel Aviv, has probably the strongest squad in years. First and foremost is Spain's European Championship MVP Lorenzo Brown, the American-born point guard. With an average of 16.3 points (6.4 assists), the point guard is also the outstanding scorer in Tel Aviv ahead of Baldwin (15.4 ppg, 4.5 apg). In the breach Bonzie Colson could step in as a scorer (8.9 ppg) as the Forwars has already won amn MVP in the French league and the Fiba Champions League in 2021 (18.1 ppg).
Power-Duo Poythress/Nebo
In addition to Brown, the work in the zone is likely to be decisive for the outcome of a presumably close game. According to FCBB captain Vladimir Lucic, centers Alex Poythress (previously St. Petersburg/8.2 ppg) and Josh Nebo (Kaunas/8.5) are "incredibly athletic and they are among the league's outstanding athletes under the basket. The statistics back that up: Maccabi is the top team in the EuroLeague in offensive rebounding (12.3) and blocks (4.4).
Vladimir Lucic: "I expect a tough game against a very talented and physical team. Their guards can decide a game with their individual performances. We ourselves are still struggling with our game and still looking for continuity, at this level of EuroLeague good 15, 20 minutes are not enough. A complete 40 minutes is what we are missing so far."