Obst's three-pointers are too little in 99-74 loss in Milan

Bayern Basketball failed to stop Milan's star ensemble nas the German Cup winners lost to the top Italian team, 99-74 in front of 11,000 fans on Friday night.

Like at Olympiakos, Andrea Trinchieri's team missed almost everything in the starting quarter (25-8). Andi Obst (27 points, 7/11 threes) put up an outstanding fight, and rookie Zylan Cheatham (17) also had a promising game but it wasn't enough.

The FCBB travels on to Braunschweig on Saturday, where the Lions await third-place Bayern on Sunday (15:00). the EuroLeague continues on Tuesday at Panathinaikos.

SCHEDULE

Winston and Jaramaz have to sit due to injury

In northern Italy, theFCBB had some bad news before tip-off: In addition to Rubit, Harris and Hunter, the top scorer for the season so far, Winston (back) and Jaramaz, who had to go to hospital in Milan because of appendicitis, were also absent at short notice.

The 36-11 score after only 13 minutes showed that it would be a long night in Italy. Obst awakened Munich's fighting spirit with 19 points before the break (50-40/22nd) but Olimpia did not allow Bayern to ever really get in the game.

Score per quarter Bayern - Milan: 8-25, 28-24, 18-23, 20-27

Stats: Two-point shooting: 49% (FCBB) // 64% (Mailand); Three-point shooting: 32% // 63%; Free-throw shooting: 67% // 75%; Rebounds: 25//37; Assists: 11//17; Turnovers: 10//13

Quotes:

Munich head coach, Andrea Trinchieri: "Milan was better today. We played very poorly and were not ready to play. They ran over us with a 25-8 quarter. We played better in the second and third quarters, but it's hard to keep up when you lose the rebounding duel 25-37 and that's against a team that's in good shape and has more energy." 

Niels Giffey: "A tough game against a very motivated team that still has chances to make the playoffs and was accordingly focused. You could feel that especially in the first quarter, that made it difficult for us. In the following quarters, we tried to fight our way back into the game. Unfortunately, we didn't manage that. Now we have to get back into a winning mentality against Braunschweig so we don't lose our rhythm too much." 

Milan head coach, Ettore Messina: "I think we had many, individually good performances today. Shabazz (Napier) especially, but everyone else played very well. But the best news of the night is that we saw 16 good minutes from Shavon Shields today after his injury. I'm very happy because we played well today. Now we will continue to focus on one game at a time and then we will see what happens."

Game recap:

With Cassius Winston and Ognjen Jaramaz out at short notice, Coach Trinchieri had to improvise right at the start and sent Nick Weiler-Babb, Andi Obst, Vladimir Lucic, Paul Zipser and Zylan Cheatham onto the court as the starting five. Only eight seconds passed before Obst out-jumped his German colleague Johannes Voigtmann and hit a jump-shot. Milan started poorly, throwing the ball away four times in the first five minutes. Cheatham punished one of these mistakes with a dunk. But apart from that, the Italians' defense was as stable as usual and they got into the game through ex-Bamberger Nicolo Melli (10-4/6th minute). Afterward this, the hottest team in the EuroLeague played with their hair on fire. No matter if it was Kyle Hines, Billy Baron or the recovered Shavon Shields, all seemed to score at will and steam-rolled guests at the end of the first quarter (25-8).   

Things didn't get any better after the short break. D.J. Seeley looked like he hit a three but the ball rolled out at the last moment. On the other side, Baron hit Gillespie in the face - timeout Trinchieri (29-8/12th). With a lot of aggressiveness and outstanding three-point shooting (63 percent), they made the guests despair. But Trinchieri's team didn't give up either and stood up to their physicality. As a result, both teams had reached the team foul limit after less than five minutes. Obst then caught fire and hit three three-pointers in a row, which led to a small outburst of rage from Ettore Messina on the sidelines. A whopping 19 of the 36 points for Bayern went to Obst in the first half. But even he could not prevent Armani from taking a clear lead at the half - 49-36.

Cheatham sprints across the court for a spectacular block

In the second half, former NBA pro Shabazz Napier inserted himself into the game with the confidence befitting such a player. Meanwhile, Cheatham and Obst shouldered almost the entire offensive load for Munich (55-41/23rd). But the pure energy of the newcomer (Cheatham) was also evident on the defensive end. After a sprint across the entire court he sent a layup attempt from Melli into the front row, volleyball style. But whatever the German EuroLeague representative did, Milan always seemed to have an answer. With numerous one-on-one wins the Italians got to the basket or to the free-throw line. This prevented them from really catching up throughout the entire quarter - 72-54.

Milan controls the game

In the final quarter, Trinchieri's team tried to make the comeback that seemed impossible. Gillespie worked actively on the offensive board and created the second chances for Seeley and Weiler-Babb (75-59/32nd). Napier then wanted to put an end to the game and drilled two tough threes. After a 9-2 run for Milan, the game was decided five minutes before the end - 84-61. While Obst "padded his stats" (7 of 11 threes), the Italian crowd celebrated top scorer Napier with shouts of "MVP". The star ensemble secured a commanding victory (99-74) after a dominant performance.