Bayern's winning streak ends in Hamburg

The FC Bayern basketball team suffered its fifth loss of the season in the Bundesliga after seven wins in a row. The team of head coach Andrea Trinchieri lost to sixth-place Hamburg less than 48 hours after the energy-sapping EuroLeague game in Spain at Valencia (83-76 loss) at the sixth. It was already the 60th game of the season for Bayern.

After a good first half and a late 77-72 deficit just two minutes before the end regulation, the FCBB still fought their way into overtime and even had the last shot to win. But in overtime they couldn't put it together and pull off the win. The top scorer was JaJuan Johnson (16).

In Hamburg, Vladimir Lucic and Diego Flaccadori took a break, James Gist and convalescent Nihad Djedovic were also absent. Next week, Bayern will have their last double week in the EuroLeague: On Tuesday, they will host Fenerbahce Istanbul, who are tied in the standings, and on Thursday, they will host Zalgiris Kaunas in the Audi Dome. The BBL continues on Saturday against Giessen.

Points per quarter Bayern - Hamburg: 19-21, 24-20, 14-17, 22-21, 10-12

Stats: Two-point shooting: 63% (FCBB) // 38% (Hamburg); Three-point shooting: 34% // 51%; Free-throw shooting: 75% // 81%; Rebounds: 35 // 39; Assists: 18 // 16; Turnovers: 16 // 14.

Quotes:
Andrea Trinchieri: "Congratulations to Hamburg, they played a very good game and hit some important threes. We fought and thought that if you play really hard here, it should be enough. In the end, it was a matter of details. Media always love numbers and I myself didn't expect to see such a statistic: A Hamburg player, DiLeo, a good player, shot more free throws than all Bayern guards combined. DiLeo had two free throws and our guards - six guards: zero free throws. I've rarely seen anything like that in my career. But that doesn't take anything away from the Hamburg win at all."

Leon Radosevic: "I congratulate the Towers, they played a good game and were very focused, maybe had a little more luck. However, it was also hard for us when they play with so much contact but don't foul in the last eight minutes. Against so much contact and with our game plan - we play every other day - it's just hard to play. In the end, maybe we didn't have that much energy either, but if we have a normal game here like we usually do in the EuroLeague, we have more opportunities to win, I think. But we don't have time to think further about the game. We will tonight, but then we play Fener on Tuesday night and then Zalgiris. We have to stay focused now and try to win these two games."            

Game recap:
Zan Mark Sisko, D.J. Seeley, Jason George, JaJuan Johnson and Leon Radosevic were the starting five. The FCBB started erratically and lost the ball three times in the first 90 seconds, which Hamburg used to start 7-0 forcing an early timeout by Trinchieri. Radosevic took over and brought the Munich team into the game with five points but Pedro Calles' team was aggressive as usual and benefited from a well-set Jordan Swing (19-12/6th). With Jalen Reynolds energy from the bench and a three-pointer by Paul Zipser, the guests stayed close after one quarter (21-19/10th).

In the second quarter,the FCBB was rewarded for its stought defense. After twelve minutes, it was David Krämer who completed a fastbreak and gave his team its first lead (23-21). The Munich team shifted its offense to the three-point line but they struggled mightily to find success. The home team on the other hand, scored at a high rate and repeatedly created second chances.  A late three-point play by Radosevic nevertheless gave Bayern a slim lead going into the break (43-41).

The guests came out of the locker room with a lot of momentum (49-43/23rd) but Hamburg top scorer Jordan Swing (21 points) had something to say against a Munich run. Together with Maik Kotsar, he kept the game close (53-52/27th). In this phase, the EuroLeague exertions were noticeable for the Munich players. Again and again they were one step too late and got some whistles against them. Hamburg used the fresher legs for a razor-thin lead (58-57).

In the final quarter the hosts tried to keep the tempo high. A resulting ball loss was punished by a crashing dunk by Zipser tying things up (63-63/33rd).  In the Towers' ensuing period of urgency, it was Baldwin who countered with a three-pointer and a block. After four quick Zipser points and a Baldwin three-pointer, the game was tied shortly before the end (79-79). With five seconds on the clock, Nick Weiler-Babb missed wha could have been the last three-pointer - overtime.

In overtime, both teams defended with a lot of intensity. Hamburg's foul in the 37th minute by D.J. Shorts, however, was the last called against the hosts. Munich shots refused to find their target while Kameron Taylor and Shorts drilled theirs (85-79/43rd). It was not until just over a minute before the end of overtime that Sisko found Johnson under the basket (85-81/44th) but it was too late to pull out a win in Hamburg.

TO THE SCHEDULE

Photo credit: Stickel, Schwartz, Noveski