That was a close one! FC Bayern Basketball, after three straight wins in the EuroLeague, had to accept a defeat again, but it was still very close at Olympiacos Piraeus, with a score of 69:77 (29:41), despite a 21-point deficit at one point.
Sunday cup quarterfinals at Bonn
Head coach Pablo Laso, as previously hinted, consciously aligned the team with the schedule, which includes a cup duel in Bonn on Sunday for a spot in the Top4. However, Bayern gave away the first quarter (8:24) too easily, but the resistance then woke up impressively.
The record after 13 games, including eight away games, is now 6-7.
Olympiacos Piraeus - FC Bayern Basketball 77:69 (41:29)
- FCBB:Carsen Edwards (11 points), Sylvain Francisco (10, 5 assists), Nick Weiler-Babb (9, 2 steals), Elias Harris (8, 5 rebounds), Isaac Bonga (6, 4 rebounds), Nelson Weidemann (5), Danko Brankovic (5), Devin Booker (4, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), Ivan Kharchenkov (4), Freddie Gillespie (4), Dino Radoncic (3, 5 rebounds) Niels Giffey
- Topscorer Olympiacos:Alex Peters (14 points)
- RefereeMatej Boltauzer, Jordi Aliaga, Igor Dragojevic
- Attendance11,457
Laso rested top scorer Ibaka, as well as Bolmaro, with an eye on the important cup game in 45 hours. The still-injured players Lucic, Obst, and Wimberg did not make the trip. The Bayern team travels from Athens to the Rhineland on Saturday afternoon.
Three quarters won
In Piraeus, they didn't have a good start. After five three-pointers and their first field goal after six minutes, the score was 4:18. At 18:39 (18th minute), it seemed like there might be a blowout, but the Munich team won three quarters and were within reach from 41:50 (28th minute) onward.
In the final quarter, the quality of the favorite prevailed, but the guest fought admirably. Laso allowed only Edwards (11 points) to play for about 22 minutes, and Youngster Kharchenkov, 17, also performed well.
Quotes:
Pablo Laso, Head Coach FC Bayern Basketball: "We had a bad start, missed open jumpers, and lost the ball. Being 16 points down after the first quarter is too much against Olympiacos. We did a better job in the other three quarters and won all three. We came back, but when Larentzakis made a lucky three-pointer off the board, that hurt us. I think it was a good lesson for us, and in Spain, we say: If you win, it's good - if you lose, you learn. If you want to win at Olympiacos, you can't have such a first quarter. (...) But we knew that we were missing some key players, and we have a big cup game on Sunday. (...) Serge is okay, but he wasn't quite at 100 percent, and we didn't want to risk anything given our schedule."
Elias Harris: "I believe that we started the game poorly. We slept in the first quarter, didn't match their physicality and energy level defensively, and then trailed by 15 points from the beginning. In the second quarter and in the second half, we did well for long stretches and played the way we should for the entire 40 minutes."