There wasn't enough in the tank to pull of the upset in Madrid. Bayern Basketball's eighth game in 18 days not quite unexpectedly failed to produce its twelfth win of the season in the EuroLeague. Despite a solid performance, head coach Andrea Trinchieri's team was not quite on the same level as title favorites Real Madrid and lost 79-67. Real still has a chance to take first place in their final game as league leader Olympiakos lost Belgrade.
Bayern will bid farewell to this year's Euroleague play next Friday (April 14th, 20:30) in the Audi Dome against Lithuania's top team, Zalgiris Kaunas, who just won 68-67 against Maccabi and are still fighting for a playoff spot. On Easter Monday (18:00), the FCBB will take on local rivals, Wuerzburg.
Andi Obst hits seven of ten three-point attempts
In front of around 7,000 spectators in Spain's capital, the German Cup winners moved the ball well. However, the individual premium class of a truly great squad could not be matched over the distance with such a small lineup (again without Winston, Harris, Hunter and Seeley).
In the first half, both teams engaged in a three-point contest, with Real's all-star team hitting more than half (7/13, 54% and the visitors hitting eight of 21 attempts (38%)). Top scorer Andi Obst (21 points, Cheatham 20) nailed four of his first five attempts.
They fought their way back to 35-33 just before the break while eight offensive rebounds were proof to a a tough fight from the BBL's third-place team.
Madrid hits 48% from three
After halftime, however, despite open shots the first five threes all failed to fall, while Madrid's Hezonja, Musa, Hanga and even Randolph, in his EuroLeague comeback after eleven months of injury, just simply could not miss (48% threes). Bayern was down 56-44 after three quarters and Bayern was in a hole after only eight points scored in the quarter.
The Munich team fought back as best it could, but with five minutes to go, the FCBB finally had to let the game slip away (68-52). The enormous workload of the last weeks and Real's superiority in the air (eight blocks) were too much for Bayern to pull of the upset.
Real Madrid – FC Bayern München Basketball 79-67
FCBB:
Andreas Obst (21 Points/ 7/10 Threes), Zylan Cheatham (20/ 8 Rebounds), Nick Weiler-Babb (8), Paul Zipser (6), Niels Giffey (6), Isaac Bonga (2), Ognjen Jaramaz (2), Freddie Gillespie (2), Vladimir Lucic, Corey Walden, Niklas Wimberg
Madrid's top scorer
Mario Hezonja (20 Points)
Referee
Borys Rhyzyk, Fernando Rocha, Adar Peer
Attendance
7,000
Score per quarter Bayern - Real: 13-17, 23-21, 8-16, 23-23
Stats: Two-point shooting: 48 % (FCBB) // 48 % (Madrid); Three-point shooting: 32 % // 48 %; Free-throw shooting: 80 % // 69 %; Rebounds: 34 // 33; Assists: 13 // 19; Turnovers: 12 // 10
Quotes:
Andrea Trinchieri:"Congratulations to Real Madrid for the deserved victory, they were better and are one of the best teams. I wish them luck for the playoffs. We were in the game, but when our three-point percentage went down, we struggled on offense, especially since we only had four or five free throws the whole game. The key was the third quarter with only eight points, even though we had open shots. Then when Mario Hezonja scored a couple of times from the outside, the gap was too big for us. But we played well here, we fought hard, got more rebounds and guarded the hoop well."