The FC Bayern basketball team was not able to continue their upward trend of last week and lost 80-71 against Spanish play-off candidate Baskonia Vítoria-Gasteiz despite a good fighting performance in the EuroLeague. In front of 4,345 spectators in the Audi Dome, the German champions were still leading in the second half, but then finally lost their offensive rhythm. 19 turnovers and a lost rebounding duel (21-29) made it extremely difficult for the Bavarians to clinch their ninth win of the season (Baskonia now eleven). Greg Monroe was the top scorer with 18 points.

The Munich team will now set off for Catalonia on Thursday, where they will play against title contenders FC Barcelona on Friday at 21:00. After their return, they will immediately move on to the next BBL game on Sunday (15:00) in Bayreuth.

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Points per quarter Bayern - Baskonia: 25-21, 16-23, 13-16, 17-20.

Facts & Figures - Two-point shooting: 58% (FCBB) // 61% (Vitoria); Three-point shooting: 37% // 38%;  free throws: 72% // 93%; rebounds: 21 // 29; assists: 17 // 16; turnovers: 19 // 18 - injured: Petteri Koponen (advanced training) and Nihad Djedovic (ankle).

Quotes:
Oliver Kostic, head coach for Munich: "We started well today and fought well, but some stats make it hard if you want to win a game. They scored 16 points in transition and ten from offensive rebounds. We also had 19 turnovers, eleven of them in the second half. With these numbers it's very difficult to keep the rhythm and of course to win the game. We need to improve that in the coming games and keep up our good effort."

Dusko Ivanovic, head coach of Baskonia: "With this victory we still have realistic chances in the fight for the playoffs. I think everyone played a part in winning the game today. We defended very well and only in the first ten minutes we had big problems, especially because of too many turnovers. After that, we controlled the game well, which was also because we didn't play with a typical five and so we could increase the pace.

Danilo Barthel: "We had too many turnovers, that's why the Spaniards things running. We have to stay calm if we fail two attacks or something on defense, we sometimes acted a bit headless today. After two victories and the clear upward trend in recent times, it is of course bitter today, because we actually had a good chance. On Friday in Barcelona we can't afford a single quarter of weakness, otherwise the game is over."

1st quarter
Coach Kostic started with Zan Mark Sisko, TJ Bray, Vladimir Lucic, Danilo Barthel and Greg Monroe. Bayern started unfocused and produced one turnover after the other, Vitoria thanked them with a 7-0 run. A triple by Bray was the start of the first good phase for the Munich team, who took the lead with a 10-2 run after five minutes of play. The FCBB had found its rhythm and a Lo's hook shot re-took a lead. After a bumpy first quarter with five turnovers by the Bavarians and nine by the Spaniards, the German champions led 25-21.

2nd Quarter
Lo sank his third triple (28-21/11.) and was early on the hot-hand. The Basques forced the pace, which created gaps on defense forcing a time-out by the FCBB. The short meeting missed its effect and Bayern suddenly lost their rhythm and touch. Kostic quickly took his next time-out just two minutes later. Monroe finished a 7-0 run for the Baskonias with an artistic lay-up and Zipser followed with another. As the turnovers decreased, the quality of the game increased and the lead changed several times. During the last two minutes of the second quarter, however, the Bavarians had unusual bad luck, even with free throws. The hosts were down 44-41 at the break.

3rd quarter
The Munich team came out with a lot of energy and fought their way up point by point - a triple by Bray tied things up at 48 and two free-throws from Monroe took the lead. Again, ball control was the biggest problem and repeated loss of the game equipment favoured the guests who grabbed the lead. In contrast to the games in January, however, the Munich team quickly regained control and turned the tide once again with buckets from Barthel and Lucic (54-52/28.) But Baskonia countered with an 8-0 run and the FCBB lacked confidence on offense and fell behind 60-54.

4th quarter
Like in quarter two Lo converted a three, but Zoran Dragic answered immediately. The guests demonstrated with focused defense that they absolutely wanted this away win in the fight for the top 8 and the Munich players seemed a bit insecure and fell behind by double-digits - time out Bayern. A soft Barthel floater and two free-throws by Monroe reduced the gap to eight points again, but a dunk by Diop dampened hopes- Munich's turnovers finally made a comeback impossible.

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Photo credit: Rauchensteiner, Stickel, Pahnke/EuroLeague