The support in the arena was immense — “thanks again for that,” emphasized head coach Anton Gavel afterward. But in the end, the 11,100 fans still had no reason to celebrate after the thrilling showdown at the SAP Garden against FC Barcelona (84:88): for the fourth time, the BBL leaders were denied their first EuroLeague home win due to turnovers in crunch time. Now the goal is to get it done on the road: Bayern Basketball face four straight EuroLeague away games — starting Thursday (8 p.m.) against Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, likely in front of more than 15,000 basketball enthusiasts.
“A clear step forward”
“We need wins, and now we want to try to get one on the road in Belgrade. Of course we know how hard that will be, because they have a strong team and beat Maccabi clearly,” says Gavel ahead of the Matchday 9 clash, just 48 hours after Barça. Sporting director Thorsten Leibenath likewise argues for a fighting approach despite the negative record of 2:6, saying: “Yes, we’d be happier if we had more wins. The EuroLeague results are a bit disappointing; we had expected a bit more there. In the Bundesliga, the style of play and the results are good, and I hope we can maintain our composure there. Overall, I believe in the process and I’m convinced that the results in the EuroLeague will then be a logical consequence.”
Fueling hope for this path is the best performance so far from playmaker Rokas Jokubaitis, who hadn’t played for a year. The Lithuanian surpassed 20 minutes for the first time against Barça, delivering seven assists and 17 points. Miles Norris also set a personal season high with 17 points against his former team. “Compared to last week, it was a clear step forward,” Leibenath judges the team’s display, “one of our best games. Even so, many players still have room for improvement.”
The Serbs already with five wins
Captain Vladimir Lucic sums up the situation like this: “Compared to the game against Dubai, we started with much more energy; the fans’ energy was also great and a big help for us against Barça. Now we have a tough schedule ahead with four EuroLeague road games. Playing at Crvena Zvezda is one of the toughest away fixtures in Europe. Plus, they’re in a very good moment — they destroyed Maccabi. Even so, we still want to fight hard for the win; that’s the most important thing. And if you take out the games against Dubai and Fenerbahce, we were competitive in the other losses and only lost in the final minutes. So that has to be our focus: start with a lot of energy and stand firm for 40 minutes.”
Crvena Zvezda have started well at 5:3 and left Maccabi Tel Aviv no chance at home on Tuesday (100:78). The Serbs made a statement in the first quarter (34:15). Top scorer was Tyson Carter (24), ahead of fellow guard Jared Butler (21) and Jordan Nwora (18/14.8 ppg). Other leaders include Chima Moneke (10.8 ppg), Semi Ojeleye (9.1), and newcomer Chris Jones (9.1, 6.1 apg). Also joining Crvena Zvezda in the summer were former FCBB players Nick Weiler-Babb (2.1) and David Kramer (4.1).