108-76: Bayern in playoff form

The playoffs are getting closer and the FCBB appears ready for them. With an enjoyable 108-76 win over the Rostock Seawolves, the Bayern basketball team took another step towards being playoff ready (quarterfinals on May 16 and 18 at the Audi Dome). Head coach Andrea Trinchieri's team played well throughout in the penultimate home game of the regular season.  Seven players scored in double-digits; Bonga (17), Giffey (16), Zipser (12), Winston (11), Gillespie (11), Cheatham (10) and Seeley (10).

Tickets for Quarterfinals 

The last game of the regular season in the Audi Dome is a duel with Heidelberg on Thursday, May 4th (19:00), before which the team plays host to Goettingen on Sunday.

Tickets vs Heidelberg

Seeley makes breaks the 100 marks

In addition to Rubit (out for the season) and Hunter (back), Harris (individual training) and Lucic (hand infection) were not available against Rostock. Nevertheless, FCBB was already ahead 37-16 after 15 minutes against a good team fighting for the playoffs.

At the half the playoff candidate fought back with several threes, but Munich's rate from outside (46%) did not let the visitors get close. 

Score per quarter Bayern - Rostock: 25-13, 32-16, 24-28, 27-19.

Stats: Two-point shooting: 74% (FCBB) // 34% (Rostock); Three-point shooting: 46% // 44%; Free-throw shooting: 82% // 95%; Rebounds: 38 // 24; Assists: 26 // 19; Turnovers: 14 // 14.

Quotes:       

Andrea Trinchieri: "We wanted to look good, although we don't need anything more wins for the standings. On offense we had a good day, we were serious about our game, spreading the ball around. It was a good game by the whole team. (...) The first one to come back is Elias. We still have some time and we will try to use the last three games for getting healthy. About Othello, I don't have a clear picture yet, he has back problems. But he's here every day and has his role as a veteran, even if he's not playing right now."  

Niels Giffey: "We just played a high tempo game today and didn't get too involved in our half-court game. Other than that, it went pretty well defensively as well. The additional practices due to the end of the EuroLeague season are really good for us to take a breather."

Rostock coach, Christian Held: "Congratulations to Andrea Trinchieri and his team. That was a well deserved victory for Bayern from the first to the last second. They had the game under control the whole time and we didn't manage to muster the energy it would have taken - especially in the beginning, after that Munich dominated the game. I'm proud that we came out of halftime and kept fighting and tried to find a way back into the game. But then in the end it wasn't enough."

Game recap:

Cassius Winston, Nick Weiler-Babb, Isaac Bonga, Niels Giffey and Freddie Gillespie started for Munich and less than two minutes into the game, visiting coach Christian Held took a timeout as his Wolves had been hit by a 7-0 run from Bayern. The Munich team recognized and consistently exploited their size advantage (14-7/4th minute of play). Things Bayern became unnecessarily casual though and turnovers were the result. They continued to defend well and Rostock fell behind. A three-pointer by Giffey increased the lead to 23-11 (9th). After the first quarter, the FCBB was in the lead 25-13.

Bayern takes off

Munich clearly felt the lack of pressure from the EuroLeague season, which had ended for them, and they looked lively and entirely focused. The visitors were prevented from scoring for more than two minutes, but their defense also gave Bayern far too much space and allowed points nearly at will. The lead was increased to 21 and Bayern was playing a nearly perfect first half (37-16/15th). The three-point shootig was good as Bonga took an example from Seeley and also sank a deep ball of his own to extend the lead (45-24/18th). Munich had things absolutely under control and radiated self confidence as the fans were especially happy about Zipser's three-pointer to make it 53-27 (19th). After an entertaining first half, the FCBB led 57-29.

Rostock hits some threes but Bayern answers

After the change of sides, the ninth-place Rostock started promisingly with two threes but Bonga answered with a three-point play and a little later with his third three-pointer to make it 63-39 (23rd). Trinchieri did not like the defensive performance of his team at all and saw a need to talk (63-42/24th). The guests hit one three-pointer after the other, but they couldn't stop the Munich team on the other end (67-46/25th). Bayern sloppiness played a part in the lead shrinking (69-55/28th). Zipser stopped the downward trend with a three-pointer and Gillespie asserted himself under the basket (74-57/29th). Munich took another big lead with a 9-0 run at the end of the third quarter - 81-57.

Munich takes a playoff spirit

A cheeky Obst completed a quick attack after the steal with a three-pointer to make it 86-57 and completed a 14-0 run across two quarters - timeout Rostock after 33 seconds of the fourth quarter. Munich remained focused and was not the least bit willing to let the game become exciting again. A powerful dunk by Gillespie after a fine pass from Obst showed that the FCBB were in it to win it. Cheatham also tested the strength of the basket with a dunk to make it 97-66 (35th). Seeley broke the 100 mark but Rostock fought on. The fans appreciated the fight and celebrated the eleventh BBL win in a row while wishing the guests a good trip back to the far north.