Bayern wins the EuroLeague rivalry game 90-72

The FC Bayern Munich basketball team celebrated its first win in the 2020/21 EuroLeague season with a 90-72 win in Berlin. 700 spectators in the hall at Berlin's Ostbahnhof saw the Munich team benefit from its strong defense, outstanding rebounding and creatuve passing from the second quarter onward. Eleven of the twelve players used appeared on the scorerboard and the top scorer was Nick Weiler-Babb with 15 points (3/4 threes). In addition, Wade Baldwin and Vladimir Lucic shone in the team effort with 14 points each.

Next Wednesday, October 14, at 20:05 Bayern travels to Maccabi Tel Aviv and only two days later, October 16, 19:45 to Fenerbahce Istanbul, the next difficult away games in the EuroLeague are on the calendar.

Points per quarter Bayern - Berlin: 21-27, 31-9, 19-18, 19-18

Stats - Two-point shooting: 68.4% (FCBB) // 51.5% (Berlin); Three-point shooting: 47.4% // 45%: free throw shooting: 64.7% // 78.6%; Rebounding: 32 // 19; Assists: 18 // 16; Turnovers: 15 // 16. 

Quotes:
Andrea Trinchieri, Coach FCBB: "First of all thanks to the 700 spectators who came, that was very important. Today it felt a bit normal after many months with empty stands. We defended very solidly and above all we rebounded. In the first quarter we were a bit lax and cumbersome, but the other three quarters were very different.

That's of course a nice win; away it's always special and more so with our big national rival. All twelve players, and I mean all of them, gave our game something. But it's only the second gameday and it's only one win. The only thing I gave my players after the painful loss to Milan was to turn frustration into positive energy and toughness, and they did. Congratulations to my players. I am happy for them."

Nihad Djedovic: "Alba Berlin is a good team, they showed last season that if you let them play, they can beat any opponent. Today we were better, we played very physically, that is our game. We came here to win.Today we are happy that we won, but we have to keep working, we are a new team with many new players, but we are on a very good path. The season is very long, who knows what will happen until June".

Vladimir Lucic: "We were a bit nervous at the beginning, but when we started to play aggressively, we got better. We struck back after the hard loss against Milan. In the second quarter we held them to six points, except for the one three-point play. That's the way we want to play. For us it was just another game in the EuroLeague. We have a new team, a new coach and we have to trust the development and keep it up."

Game report:
In the early stages, both teams took two-point jump-shots and that was especially pleasing from the Bavarians' point of view. In the middle of the first quarter, Malclom Thomas made his debut in the FCBB jersey after a back injury. The first three fell for the Berliners before Bavaria's Jalen Reynolds took over the scoring for the guests with seven points (13-17/7.) With a three from Paul Zipser the FCBB took the lead for the first time at 19-18 but defensively, the FCBB still had some room for improvement after the first ten minutes - 27-21 deficit.

After the quarter break, the Munich team noticeably tightened the reins on defense and Wade Baldwin showed his tireless drive to the basket as well as mid-range jump-shots which he also mastered excellently and forced a time-out from Berlin (30-29/14.). The FCBB streaked to a 14-0 run and was able to gain a double-digit lead for the first time (39-29/17.). The run was only briefly interrupted by an Aíto time-out as the dethroned champion continuously extended their lead through strong defense and fast play with creative passing on offense (48-31/19.). The second quarter was clearly won by the guests 31-9. Decisive for this, in addition to an effective defense, was the great rebound work (Berlin 7/17FCBB) and only four turnovers (Berlin 8). 52-36 at the break.

Bayern was immediately in a groove at the beginning of the second half, forcing the Berliners to four early turnovers and several team fouls (61-41/25.). The guests took advantage of this and extended their lead to a comfortable 23 points. Berlin reacted with tight defense and double teams on the ball handlers of the Munich team and brought the lead to 15 and forced a timeout from Trinchieri (67-52/28.). Zan Mark Sisko nevertheless found the gaps in the Alba defense - 71-54 before the final quarter.

The Munich defense found itself again, forced Berlin to shoot bad shots and again took a 20-point lead (76-56/33.). With a successful And-One Baldwin decided the game early in favor of the guests (82-58/35.). In the end, FC Bayern Basketball scored a well-deserved 90-72 victory.

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Photo Credit: Stickel and Hoffmann