71-58 The FCBB loses home game without Lucic

FC Bayern's basketball team failed to equalize in the BBL finals against Alba Berlin: The Munich team conceded a clear 71-58 loss in the second game in front of 6,500 fans in the sold-out Audi Dome and are now trailing 0:2 in the series. After a good first quarter (18-16), the hosts completely lost their confidence in the offense and they also missed injured leader Vladimir Lucic.

Game 3 will take place Friday (19:00) in Berlin, with free public viewing at the Audi Dome for the defending champions' first match point. Game 4 would take place in Munich again on Sunday (15:00).

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The offense falters

Lucic was missing because of muscular problems and thus was the third potential starter missing along with Hilliard and Walden. Despite good shooting chances, the start did not go well (9-4/5th). The Munich team left everything on the court from the start but they struggled to score from the start.

The FCBB remained without a point for six minutes in the second quarter against a physical Berlin defense and revealed gaps at the boards (29-19/16th). The 52-33 deficit (27th) documented the issues and although the FCBB fought bravely, they did not manage to catch up.

Point per quarter Bayern - Berlin: 16-18, 10-20, 17-19, 15-14

Stats:  Two-point shooting: 43 % (FCBB) // 59 % (Berlin); Three-point: 27 % // 25 %; Free-throw: 67 % // 64 %; Rebounds: 32 // 40; Assists: 9 // 19; Turnovers: 13  // 14

Quotes       

FCBB head coach Andrea Trinchieri: "Congratulations to Berlin. It's 2:0 and Alba had more energy again today. They deserved the victory. We tried, but we lacked a clear head in the offense in the second quarter. That cost us the game with only ten points. We were then not able to play with the right energy to reduce the gap in the third and fourth quarters. Again, rebounding was the key and it is obvious that this is a problem. I have to find a way to make my players go the extra mile in rebounding. Because in this series, whoever grabs more rebounds wins the games. Both teams shot poorly, but they had second chances. the 50-50 balls. Now our backs are against the wall again and we go to Berlin, where everything will be ready to lift the trophy. Now is not the time for excuses and explanations about players missing. We have to pull ourselves together and it's not as easy as it sounds. (...) They are ready for the party. (...) Lucic will not be able to play on Friday either. (...) But the motto for game three is: never give up the fight, never!"           

Leon Radosevic: "The second half wasn't much better, although it may have looked that way. We were simply worse today, much worse even than in the first game in Berlin. They have too many good players and too much experience to let us back into the game. Luck wasn't on our side either and we were too nervous. Now our backs are against the wall. But we want to show there that we don't want to end a season like this with a 3-0 defeat."  

Israel Gonzalez, Coach Berlin: "I am very happy for my players. We played a complete game today. We had some difficulties because Trinchieri used a lot of different line-ups. But we adapted very well.  Despite the poor three-point percentage, we were able to score under the basket and controlled the rebounds. That was the key. We had a moment in the second quarter when we got into a run. We have to do that more often, but of course Bayern does a good job in transition defense. We rotate a lot, we don't have a player that plays 35 minutes. We have 14 players that we use almost the whole season. I think that's very important."     

Game recap:

FCBB head coach Andrea Trinchieri brought in Nick Weiler-Babb, Andreas Obst, Deshaun Thomas, Augustine Rubit and Leon Radosevic as the starting five after the 86-73 loss in Berlin. The champions started the game better, but FCBB stayed in it with buckets from Obst and Rubit. The opponents set a crazy tempo and In minute seven, additional cheers erupted because Paul Zipser finally entered the game again after weeks. The Munich team remained close on the heels of the Berliners (13-11/8th), but the scoring was still not quite right, and the one or other offensive rebound by the guests was unfortunate. But Alba didn't manage much more - 18-16 after the first quarter.

After an early timeout by Trinchieri, Radosevic cut the deficit to 20-18 (12th). Every inch of the court was contented and was evidenced by the meager scoring output of both teams - just two baskets had been scored in three and a half minutes of play.  Alba, on the other hand, took off and pulled away to 26-18 with quick finishes. FCBB took the next timeout (16th). The momentum was on the side of the visiors and the deficit got into double digits (29-19/16th). Sisko repeatedly moved to the basket and scored, but Berlin scored almost everything:  after38-26 in the first half.

Munich with no shooting luck

Less than two minutes into the second half, Trinchieri took a timeout because he didn't like what he saw on the floor. A three-pointer by Obst caused an outburst of ovations in the stands (44-33/25th). Was the spell finally broken? Unfortunately, no. Andrea Trinchieri tried different lineups on the floor, but the Berliners were now in the flow and unstoppable. Radosevic stopped a 7-0 Berlin run with a hook shot to make it 51-35 (27th). A Hunter three-pointer game hope but in the immediately following attack it was destroyed again by Tamir Blatt's three-pointer. The deficit grew into the threatening range towards 20 points, a one-legged jumped three-pointer from a good nine meters by Obst prevented worse. 57-43 after the third quarter.

Berlin defends the lead efficiently

The crowd sounded the alarm and frenetically cheered on the FCBB. The spark really did fly and the Bayern defense went to its limits and prevented Alba from scoring.  A certain helplessness became noticeable in the Munich offense and Berlin defended their lead skillfully. A Hunter alley-oop dunk was another exclamation mark, but still no rhythm was found. After a timeout, Weiler-Babb sank a three-pointer to make it 64-54 with over two minutes left on the clock. The Berliners promptly regained the advantage with the next offensive rebound and took valuable seconds off the clock. Even the sensational putback dunk with one hand did not change anything in the bitter defeat, which will certainly find its way into the highlights. 0:2 in the best-of-five series - now it's do or die in Berlin on Friday!

The BBL Finals 2022 (best-of-five):

Friday, June 17, 19:00.: Alba Berlin - FCBB

*Sunday, June 19, 15:00.: FCBB - Alba Berlin

*Tuesday, June 22, 20:30.: Alba Berlin - FCBB

*=if necessary