Bayern disappoints vs Baskonia

The Bayern basketball team suffered a significant setback on Thursday evening in Vitoria: Their defensive performance, especially in the third quarter, made the desired away win against Baskonia impossible. With the 89-112 (48-50) defeat in front of 8,200 spectators, Gordon Herbert's team instead drops to a 17-13 record.

Boxscore

Complete collapse in the third quarter

In the chilly atmosphere of the Buesa Arena, the home team, scoring at an impressive 62.9% from the field, found easy points with layups. Meanwhile, Bayern struggled as their first six three-point attempts missed the mark, falling behind 10-21 (7th minute). It wasn’t until the bench players stepped up with defensive intensity that the visitors managed to close the gap (21-25/10th minute).

However, Baskonia continued to shoot well from outside, played faster, dominated the rebounds (21-13 at halftime), and had already racked up 40 points after just 15 minutes (40-30). Niels Giffey kept Bayern in the shootout with a perfect 3/3 from beyond the arc, helping his team stay within reach by halftime.

Defense not up to the task

Any positive momentum quickly vanished just 3:46 minutes into the second half. Turnovers allowed Vitoria to take control again, leading to a 51-66 deficit—the biggest gap yet, which soon stretched to 17 points. Bayern’s disastrous start to the third quarter (23-33) played right into the hands of the fluidly executing hosts (32 assists), who weren’t fazed even by a temporary zone defense from Munich.

Quick turnaround for Bayern

After returning on Friday afternoon, Bayern will have just 24 hours to prepare for their BBL home game against playoff contender Rostock on Saturday at 6:30 PM in the sold-out SAP Garden (live on Dyn). In the EuroLeague, a double week follows: Tuesday in Barcelona and Thursday at home against Partizan Belgrade.

Quotes:

Gordon Herbert, Head Coach FC Bayern Basketball: "Congratulations to Pablo and his team. We played one good quarter – the second. They played four. We fought back in the second quarter but gave the game away in the third. We didn’t put any pressure on them. Our rebounding was a key factor, as well as Baskonia’s shooting and their fast breaks, which led to a lot of easy points."

Niels Giffey: "That was frustrating, super frustrating that we couldn’t get our defense under control and stop them. You have to win games like this, and for that, you need to contain the opponent’s best players. We didn’t manage to do that. Now we have four games left, and we need to start winning again, even on the road."