The FCBB win 77-65 in Ulm and have home advantage

Only three days after the EuroLeague farewell in Barcelona, the Bayern basketball team succeeded in its reorientation towards the national competition: Head coach Andrea Trinchieri's team clinched the home advantage for the 2022 playoffs in their first attempt and won in front of 5,700 fans in the sold-out Ulm Arena 77-65. As a result, the Munich team (48-12 points record) will at least enter the postseason in third place in the standings, where the Ulm team (42-24) will be a possible first-round opponent.

Sunday vs Goettingen

Munich will close the regular season with two home games on Sunday (18:00) against Goettingen and the top game on Tuesday (20:30) against Alba Berlin.

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The playoff quarterfinals start for Bayern next Friday evening (May 13th) and the following Sunday (May 15th), tip-off at the Audi Dome is expected to be at 20:30 each night. The playoffs will be played in a best-of-five 2-2-1 mode, meaning that the better-placed team will initially have two home games and will also have home advantage in a possible fifth game.

Top scorer Lucic

In a fast-paced derby, the stressed guests acclimatized quickly, had small problems only with defensive rebounding in the beginning and pulled away a bit before the break (37-30/20th). In the second half, they conceded an 8-0 run to equalize 42-42, but top scorer Vladimir Lucic (17 points) helped take a 59-46 lead (29th). Two threes by Nick Weiler-Babb to 69-54 brought the early decision.

Points per quarter Bayern - Ulm: 19-19, 20-13, 20-20, 18-13

Stats: Two-point shooting: 51 % (FCBB) // 40 % (Ulm); Three-point shooting: 38 % // 31%; Free-throw shooting: 90% // 60%; Rebounds: 41 // 37; Assists: 19 // 12.; Turnovers: 9 // 7.

Quotes:

FCBB head coach, Andrea Trinchieri: "I think we bounced back as a team after a painful fifth game in Barcelona. We played as a team and the desire for that win was evident when you grab 41 rebounds and take 29 fouls. Those numbers show that we wanted to fight back. We have good team chemistry and we distributed the minutes well. Everyone contributed something to the team in the process. So I'm very pleased today, we did a solid job. (...) After game five in Barcelona, when we met back on the court after that, we had very little energy. We tried to keep going and the players did an excellent job of that. (...) We still have two games and I'm not focusing on the standings, but on finding the rhythm again after the EuroLeague and given our injured players. (...) But I still want to congratulate Ulm for their EuroCup season, they were great and just one possession away from kicking out Virtus Bologna, the big favorite. So congratulations to Jaka (Lakovic) and Ulm."

Vladimir Lucic: "I was a little afraid of how we would react after the defeat in Barcelona. We only had half a day to regenerate a little and train. After that, it was already here to play the next game. Ulm is a great team and played a good season, especially in the EuroCup. Also the coach Jaka Lakaovic is doing very well here. It's never easy to play here in Ulm in front of these fans. We had a long rotation today. We've been able to do that for about a month. It was important to come back after the loss against Barcelona. Now we're ready for two more games in the regular season and then also for the playoffs."

Game recap:

For the starting five, head coach Andrea Trinchieri opted for Nick Weiler-Babb, Andreas Obst, Jason George, Augustine Rubit and Leon Radosevic. It quickly became apparent that Bayern had put the emotional series against FC Barcelona behind them. Rubit dominated the opening phase under the basket while ex-Ulmer Obst underlined his skills from the three-point line (14-11 Bayern/6th minute). Ulm, on the other hand, could rely on Sindarius Thornwell. With ten points, the US guard almost single-handedly kept the first quarter even (19-19).

In the second quarter, co-captain Lucic joined in the offense with clever cuts to the basket. In addition, the Munich team kept control of its own attacks and only lost two turnovers in the first half (25-22/13th). Still, the shots did not fall consistently, which the hosts took advantage of to stay close, especially via second chances and the free-throw line. But that changed when Rubit took the reigns under the boards again. With a focused defense, Jaka Lakovic's team did not get beyond 13 points in the second quarter. With a spectacular putback dunk, Weiler-Babb put the finishing touches on the first half (39-32).

Ulm equalizes - Bayern has the perfect answer

In the third quarter, Ulm came out of the locker room wide awake. The men in orange used a four-point play by Thomas Kleipeisz as an initial spark to level the game within three minutes - timeout Trinchieri. With a little effort, the third in the standings stopped the small upswing of the home team. But as so often when a game threatens to tip the wrong way leader Lucic took responsibility and fired up a 14-3 run that forced Lakovic to react (57-46/28th). Small carelessness allowed Ulm to stay in the game (59-52). 

Weiler-Babb turned up the heat within two minutes after his second three-pointer in a row and a smile spread on the face of the Bayern guard (69-54/33rd). With another timeout, the Ulm head coach tried to somehow inhibit the flow of the game. But the Munich team now distributed the ball with blind understanding and found their free men. With a high tempo and quick finishes, the hosts tried to once again reduce the double-digit lead but the Munich team didn't let any more suspense and confidently claimed their 24th victory in the BBL (77-65).  

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Photos: Langer & Stickel