Bayern runs out of steam against Olympiakos

The Bayern basketball team lost a high-class EuroLeague duel with fourth-placed Olympiakos Piraeus in front of around 3,100 fans in the Audi Dome, 98-88. Andrea Trinchieri's team, visibly depleted in the final phase just 48 hours after the Hamburg game, now stands at a 12-13 record. On Sunday, the team will take on Bamberg starting at 18:00.

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The guests around top scorer Dorsey (25) scored early at a high percentage (15-8/4th), as top defender Weiler-Babb was missing after being released from the hospital on game day. But Bayern stayed calm, with the buzzer three-pointer returnee Jaramaz threw FCBB ahead (29-28). The offense shone as it did in the second half against Hamburg - 50-40 after a 12-2 run.

However, Piraeus countered with enormous physicality after the change, Lucic and Walden received four fouls early on and the team went through a phase of taking poor shots (68-61/28th). The Greeks showed their class in crunch time, with Rubit finishing with 18 points for the BBL leaders.

Points per quarter Bayern - Piraus: 29-28, 24-22, 16-23, 19-25

Stats: Two-point shooting: 44% (FCBB) // 76% (Piräus); Three-point shooting: 46% // 47%; Free-throw shooting: 89% // 76%; Rebounds: 24 // 24; Assists:  24//20; Rebounds:  7//10

Quotes:         

Munich head coach, Andrea Trinchieri:  "Congratulations to Olympiakos Piraeus. They were very good and punished our mistakes. They deserved to win. Their guards really caused us problems. My team fought. We had good minutes, but in the end we had too short a rotation. We didn't make enough smart moves against such an experienced team.

The fourth foul against Lucic is whistled offensively 99 percent of the time. He had a good position in my opinion. But the referees saw it differently. That was a close, decisive whistle. That cost us the momentum. But there were different reasons. Nick was completely out, Walden wasn't in the shape to play and Hilliard is coming back after three months. All of that explains the result. We wanted to fight. I don't want to hide the truth. It's little things that killed us and we have to do better. We have many reasons, all of which I don't like, that explain why we lost. But there are several situations that we can do better. For 25 minutes I was very impressed with my team. Now we have to focus on the next game. We will keep fighting and then we will see where we stand.   

But right now there are more important things in the world. It's a human tragedy very close to us."

Georgios Bartzokas, head coach Piräus: "It was a high-quality game, especially offensively. But in the second half we also played much better defensively and only allowed 35 points. We fought better and managed to win the game. If there is something I have to complain about, it's the rebounds. We allowed too many there and Rubit in particular punished that. It was an important win for us, against an opponent whose style of play I respect a lot."

I would also like to mention that we are in the middle of a crisis that saddens us all very much. Innocent people are being killed for no reason. Let's hope that this ends soon."

Darrun Hilliard:

"You have to understand that this is the first time we are playing with an almost complete squad. We've never had the opportunity for all of us to come together to train and play because of injuries and COVID cases. Olympiakos is a great team. They have a lot of experience, know how to exploit the opponent's weaknesses, and never panic. They are very well coached. Of course, it's also hard to play when both of our playmakers are saddled with four fouls for a long time.

For myself, it's still hard to be unhappy because I'm so happy to be able to play again at all. When you don't play for a long time, you don't forget how basketball works. But getting back into the rhythm is still difficult. I work on that every day. I really appreciate it and I'm thankful to be able to play again."

Game recap:

Corey Walden, Ognjen Jaramaz, Vladimir Lucic, Augustine Rubit and Leon Radosevic made up the starting five on their return to the top flight. Olympiakos started directly with the physicality Trinchieri feared. Tyler Dorsey needed only seconds to get up to operating temperature with two big threes (13-8/3rd minute). But the Munich team got the fatigue out of their bones early after the emotional evening against Hamburg. Lucic did not let himself be irritated by two early fouls and brought his team into the game with a lot of commitment (21-17/7th). Substitute Othello Hunter found unusual gaps in the Greek defense and used them for two crashing dunks. Jaramaz's buzzer beater put the crown on a spectacular quarter (29-28, 10th).

The quality did not let up in the second ten minutes either. Darrun Hilliard reported back and scored his first Euroleague points since his ligament injury in November. Even though the Greeks often managed to force the Munich team into the shot clock late, the latter always found suitable solutions. Especially the tandem of Sisko and Lucic worked with almost blind understanding (44-40/16th). But the team of Georgios Bartzokas showed the appropriate reaction of a fourth in the standings. Led by experienced playmaker Kostas Sloukas, the guests prevented a clearer break lead with an 8-0 run - 53-50.  

Olympiakos relies on Dorsey, Lucic forced to play with four fouls

A still red-hot Tyler Dorsey opened the third quarter and marked his 25 points early. Particularly bitter from Munich's point of view: Lucic, who was playing so strongly, was whistled for his fourth foul despite being in a good defensive position - timeout Trinchieri (63-59 Piraus/23).  The home side's offense now visibly faltered. With a lot of will and energy, the Bavarians won numerous offensive rebounds. With commitment and not a single turnover, Piraeus did not lose ground in the third quarter (73-69).   

The Trinchieri team fought for every ball in the final period as well. Augustine Rubit emphatically sank a dunk for a three-point play and followed it up with a mid-range shot (78-76/33rd). But the guests now used their fresher legs and made tough shots. Sloukas in particular (ten assists) repeatedly found the right options in the offense and increased the lead (91-83/38th). The foul load was now also noticeable for Bayern. Lucic played with four for a long time, Sisko and Walden had to go to the bench with five. After a long contested game, the energy for another comeback was ultimately lacking (98-88, 40th).

(c) FCBB, Stickel, Pahnke