97:82 away win in front of nearly 15,000 fans

What a strong performance on the road: The Bayern basketball team won 97-82 (45-31) at Zalgiris Kaunas on Thursday in front of nearly 15,000 Lithuanian fans and now stands at 14-10 in the EuroLeague. In their fifth away victory, Edwards (24), Obst, who was nearly flawless in the second half (26, 8/12 from three), and Weiler-Babb (14/13 assists) led the offense of the German champions.

The Bayern team is now moving into the SAP Garden for a week: On Sunday against Berlin (4:30 PM), Bundesliga action will take place for the first time there, followed by a double week against Milan (Tuesday) and Lyon-Villeurbanne (Thursday) - that’s three games in five days.

All the stats from the game

Still without Napier

Point guard Napier missed the game in Kaunas after his severe flu (plus hip injury), so the same roster as in the victory against Berlin played. And the mechanisms worked.

The notorious Lithuanian starting offense got off to a slow start, and Bayern led 25-18 after Obst's transition three-pointer (12th minute) and dominated the rebounds (26-13) until halftime. After steals from Babb and Edwards to make it 38-25, the arena had cooled down somewhat; despite some missed layups, Bayern played very mature and focused (17th minute).

Obst on One Leg

Would Kaunas now try something atypical in the second half? Francisco attempted it (45-52/24th). But two clean three-pointers from Edwards brought the difference back, 61-48 (27th). However, the game was now a battle, before Munich's three-pointers (17:32) took away all of Zalgiris' illusions, with World Champion Obst leading the way: On one leg and off the dribble – in, 77-61 (32nd)!

With the second win over Kaunas, FCBB also secured the head-to-head advantage.

Quotes

Gordon Herbert: “That was a great team performance. You could see right from the first two minutes how we won the battles, grabbed the loose balls, and secured the rebounds on both sides of the floor. The guys did a great job on the boards. When Zalgiris had a run in the third quarter, Carsen Edwards hit two big shots; then Andi Obst came in and hit a lot of shots. But the key was that we stayed together in this atmosphere and rebounded well on both sides. (…) I'm only surprised with Andi when he doesn’t hit. (…) Without Napier, we currently only have one healthy point guard. Andi did a great job organizing our game when Nick was out. (…)

The players' goal before the season was to make it to the EuroLeague playoffs. I think, with Lucic and Giffey back in the team, we have more options, and our offense is more balanced. Both guys help in many ways.”

Nick Weiler-Babb: “We took the punches they threw at us. We just kept going and stuck together as a team. They had a good start to the third quarter, but we stuck together as a team and came back. In the end, we had the final punch. It’s always great when guys like Carsen and Andi hit the open shots, and even a few tough ones went in. Congratulations and credit to my team. We hit some open and tough shots. We created the open ones through our good offense, good movement, and stops after transition. That’s what we want to do.”

Carsen Edwards: “We managed to get good shots and hit a few tough ones, and we defended hard. I didn’t play in the fourth quarter, but the guys kept playing well, hitting shots and getting stops. We want to build on that. He (Andreas Obst) hit a few tough shots, for example, one on one leg. Everyone helped to win today. Andi has nights like these when he hits those shots. We need to keep sticking together. There are so many ups and downs during a season and in a game. The most important thing is to stick together – and if we do that, we’ll see what happens.”

The Next Games of FCBB

• Sunday, February 2, 16:30: 16th easyCredit BBL game day, FCBB – Alba Berlin (SAP Garden)

• Tuesday, February 4, 20:45: 25th EuroLeague game day, FCBB – Armani Olimpia Milan (SAP Garden)

• Thursday, February 6, 20:30: 26th EuroLeague game day, FCBB – Asvel Lyon-Villeurbanne (SAP Garden)

• Sunday, February 9, 15:00: 17th easyCredit BBL game day, Rasta Vechta – FCBB

• Tuesday, February 11, 20:00: 18th easyCredit BBL game day, FCBB – Skyliners Frankfurt (BMW Park)

• Saturday, February 15, 16:00: Cup semi-final, Syntainics MBC – FCBB (in Weißenfels)