Bayern with a good feeling after Barcelona

With another sense of achievement in their luggage, the Bayern Basketball players set off for their big game in Spain at the start of the week: less than 48 hours after the 59-52 upset over FC Barcelona and just as shortly before the fifth playoff duel away at the big EuroLeague favorites, coach Andrea Trinchieri's team won 92-57 against Wuerzburg on Sunday night after a very respectable performance in front of 2,122 fans.

With a record of 23-8, the FCBB is at least heading for third place after the regular season. The top scorer for the Munich team, which was able to split the minutes economically early on, was national player Andreas Obst (18 points).

Barça also wins

Bayern will now travel to Barcelona on Monday afternoon, after a training session in Munich. The deciding game for a place in the Final Four at Barça's Palau Blaugrana starts at 20:00 with MagentaSport broadcasting from 19:30.    

Barcelona was also in action on Sunday and won its home game against second-to-last Burgos with former Bayern guard Alex Renfroe (6 points) after trailing 29-30 at halftime. Coach Sarunas Jasikevicius was completely without his star Nikola Mirotic and NBA addition Dante Exum. Top scorer was Alex Abrines (15), and centers Brandon Davies and Sertac Sanli (10 each) who also scored in double figures. With the win, Barça is basically assured of winning the regular season of the Spanish ACB with a two-win advantage plus direct comparison over rival Real Madrid.

After an off Saturday, the hosts left no doubt in Alex King's final game against his team's small rotation before the break, hitting six of 14 threes.

Points per quarter Bayern - Wuerzburg: 24-13, 24-10, 19-21, 25-13.

Stats: Two-point shooting: 63 % (FCBB) // 49 % (Würzburg); Three-point shooting: 45% // 24 %; Free-throw shooting: 75 % // 71 %; Rebounds: 37 // 28; Assists: 24 // 17; Turnovers: 10 // 19

Quotes:    

FCBB head coach, Andrea Trinchieri: "I would first like to congratulate Würzburg on their performance today in a difficult personnel situation. They really finished the season on a high note. We didn't have any new injuries today and we move on: we're now focused on THE game at Barça."              

Andreas Obst: "We wanted to distribute the minutes well and play a great rotation. Nobody should get too many minutes, because tomorrow we have another travel day and on Tuesday there is an important game. It was nice when a few shots went in from me today, but the most important thing is that the minutes were distributed well. We've already shown that we can win in Barcelona. It won't be an easy task. Everything Barça has will be against us - we just have to stand firm."

Wuerzburg head coach: "Congratulations to my players for this season. We had a big challenge in front of us today, in the end I can be very happy and satisfied. Today we could not resist more, I hope they used the second half as a training. It was the best we could do, because we are not used to having so many games in so few days in terms of energy and we had a lot of injuries to boot. I'm proud of my team, I wish Greg Miller and William Buford a quick comeback and Bayern all the best for the future."

Game Recap:

FCBB head coach Andrea Trinchieri announced a short and quick rotation before the game to distribute the playing time as evenly as possible. Nick Weiler-Babb, Andreas Obst, Jason George, Augustine Rubit and Gavin Schilling started the rivalry game against the decimated guests from Lower Franconia. After a little more than three minutes it was 9-2 between Andreas Obst and Wuerzburg, as the national player had scored all points for his team. Wuerzburg found it extremely difficult against Munich's compact defense and found themselves trailing by double digits after less than five minutes (13-2/5th). Thanks in part to a three-pointer by BBL record player Alex King, Wuerzburg came back a bit, but Munich responded with a 7-0 run (22-9/9th). The Barcelona fright had everything under control and led 24:13 after game period one.

All players with ample playing time

The favorites took some time with the first basket in the second quarter, Weiler-Babb ended the lull with an elegant jump shot for a 26-17 lead (12.). The intensity of Wuerzburg's defense was rather economical in accordance with the personnel situation, so the FCBB did not have much trouble running the ball quickly and taking advantage of open shots. There was even an opportunity for one or the other little showpiece: Sisko once again proved to have a fine passing hand and served Radosevic with pinpoint accuracy for an alley-oop smash. The 13-0 run thrilled the fans, and the Munich team quickly and mercilessly increased its lead (43-19/17th). Coach Trinchieri used every opportunity to give his men a breather - although the lead was more than clear, he took a timeout 70 seconds before halftime. Nothing more happened until the change of ends - 48-23.

The FCBB took their foot off the gas, but Coach Trinchieri has an aversion to sloppy play even in seemingly easy games - timeout (49-30/23rd). Joshua Obiesie understood the arguments of the coach and increased the lead to 54-32 (24th). The physical strain was noticeable in the Franconians and Rubit made it 59-34 (27th) with a three. The guests around Alex King are to be credited that they continued to put in the work, which was also rewarded by the Munich supporters with applause for the 8-0 run (62-44/29th). Obiesie stopped the run with five points in a row - 67-44 after the third quarter.

In the final quarter, after two minutes without a Munich basket, Obst dribbled comfortably through the visitors' zone and back behind the three-point line to score without hesitation for 70-48 (32nd). It was no longer exciting, and the players knew that too. The final ten minutes were a repeat of the opening quarter, because by the middle of the quarter Andreas Obst scored at will - eight points in a row (72-50 (35th). Schilling shone defensively, Obiesie offensively (76-52/37th). Wuerzburg's batteries were empty, but in view of their precarious personnel situation, they pulled off a very respectable performance. Finally, Alex King made his final appearance in the BBL after 638 games in the city where it all began for him. The clear Bayern victory became a minor matter in view of this extraordinary performance, and Alex King was given a warm farewell with chants in the Audi Dome. Now, all eyes are turned toward Barcelona in tingling anticipation.

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(c) Eirich, FCBB & Stickel