Bayern finishes their trip to Greece without a win

The basketball players of FC Bayern Munich lost 89-72 at Olympiakos Piraeus on the 20th gameday of the EuroLeague and are still waiting for their first victory on foreign soil. In front of 7,121 spectators, the pattern of the first game in Greece at Panathinaikos Athens (98-83 loss) was repeated: Munich fought their way into the game, were finally ahead promisingly in the third quarter (53-47/28.), before power and concentration were abruptly lost. The result was a decisive 14-0 run including several offensive rebounds from Olympiakos. The fourth quarter was lost 19-35, leaving the undefeated German champions at the bottom of the standing in the Euroleague. The top scorers for Bayern were Vladimir Lucic and TJ Bray with 15 points each.

On Sunday afternoon (7.1 p.m., 15:00./MagentSport and Sport1), Bayern will be guests of  the Ludwigsburgers in the BBL. The latter are the first runners-up to the Munich team in the German league. Next Thursday (23.01, 20:30), play-off contender Maccabi Tel Aviv will visit the Audi Dome.

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Points per quarter Bayern - Olympiakos: 14-17, 18-20, 21-17, 19-35.

Facts & Figures - Two-point shooting: 34.1% (FCBB) // 60% (Piraeus); Three-point shooting: 57.1% // 40.6%; Rebounds: 28 // 32; Assists: 19 // 21; Turnovers: 13 // 11 - Injured: Nihad Djedovic (back), Zan Mark Sisko (adductors).

FCBB stats: Vladimir Lucic (15 points, 3/3 threes, 5 assists), TJ Bray (15), Greg Monroe (11, 12 rebounds), Petteri Koponen (8), Maodo Lo (8, 5 assists), Paul Zipser (5), Danilo Barthel (5), Josh Huestis (5), Leon Radosevic, Mathias Lessort, Alex King (dnp) and Diego Flaccadori (dnp).

Quotes:
FCBB interim head coach, Oliver Kostic: "Olympiakos had a strong final quarter with an unbelievable three-point percentage. We played a very good game for about 30 minutes, but then we lost power and energy; certainly also because of the short rotation especially at the guard position, where we were missing Nihad, Maodo has been sick for a week and Sisko was also missing. So again we could not finish the game. Olympiakos was able to shoot and rebound as they wanted during his run."

Maodo Lo: "We started the game better this time, but in the last quarter we unfortunately lost the fight. We have to play 40 minutes, we just have to make it over 40 minutes."

1st quarter
The FCBB started with Maodo Lo, Paul Zipser, Vladimir Lucic, Danilo Barthel and Greg Monroe. Bayern found their way into the game much better than at the guest appearance in Athens and took the lead for the first time with a three from Lucic. Once again the Serb and Monroe extended their lead in a low-scoring quarter and took a 9-3 lead early. As on Wednesday, TJ Bray found his way into the game and hit his first three. Nevertheless, the hosts went into the first quarter break with a lead, which was also due to the fact that Bayern only hit two of 13 shots inside the arc. For a positive note from the point of view of the FCBB, Oliver Kostic's team secured four offensive boards and eleven rebounds in the first ten minutes.

2nd quarter
In the second quarter, the fans in the Peace and Friendship Stadium were again treated to an open exchange of blows and though Olympiakos was always in the lead Bayern never let the hosts get to far out in front. On defense, however, Brandon Paul caused the FCBB a lot of problems. The guard scored eight of his ten points between the 12th and 18th minute alone. The FCBB with a 6-0 run thanks to a three-point play from Bray and a deep three from Josh Huestis. At the half the score was 37-32 in favor of the Greeks. 

3rd quarter
The momentum from the end of the first half was seamlessly carried over into the second half. Barthel, Lucic and Lo scored the first points after the change of sides and finished a 16-0 run for the FCBB. The hosts only scored their first points after five minutes of play in the second half. Bayern managed to take a six-point lead in the meantime, before Olympiakos could turn the game around in the last 100 seconds of the third quarter. Heading into the final minutes, the score was 54-53, in favor of Olympiakos

4th quarter
Bayern seemed to be stunned to start the quarter and could hardly do anything on either side of the court. Lo scored the first FCBB points with a stepback three and finally interrupted a 14-0 run of the hosts. The Kostic team repeated a troubling trend of not being able to finish and before the end were once again double-digits behind. All in all, the guests allowed a total of 35 points in the last ten minutes and were even 20 points behind shortly before the end. Bray and Zipser hit a few garbage-time threes in the final minute but Olympiakos finished with an 89-72 victoy. 

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Photo Credit: Stickle