Bayern loses and must now win three straight

Ulm is setup well for the Semifinals sweep: The playoff surprise team of 2023 won Game 2 in the sold-out Audi Dome, after the hard-fought game, 93-88. The Bayern Basketball team is now down 0-2 and the Cup winner, who is weakened by injuries is thus facing elimination.

The best-of-five series switches to Ulm on Friday at 19:00 where Bayern will fight for their playoff lives.

Andi Obst with 34 points

The FCBB around the red-hot top scorer Obst (34 points) started slowly and this, added on to the fact that Ulm hit many of their shots, saw Bayern in an early hole (25-14/8th). The defense struggled in stopping the visitors and Bayern needed a boost. With passion and the 6,500 fans in the Audi Dome, however, the FCBB worked its way into the game and kept Ulm at bay, 34-33 and even took a lead before half.

Momentum shifted again and Bayern again fell behind, 58-44. The guest took significantly more three-point attempts at similar percentages, had fewer turnovers and remained ahead until the end despite Munich's strong comeback.

Scorer per quarter Bayern - Ulm: 20-27, 19-17, 17-27, 32-22

Stats: Two-point shooting: 59 % (FCBB) // 67 % (Ulm); Three-point shooting: 39 % // 33 %; Free-throw shooting: 89 % // 78 %; Rebounds: 32 // 29; Assists: 13 // 18;Turnovers: 21 // 17

Quotes:

FCBB head coach, Andrea Trinchieri: "I think my team played hard today. They hit some tough shots,that took away our confidence a little bit. But in the last quarter we really fought for every ball and gave everything. I think we provoked about ten ball turnovers there. There's always hope. It's 0-2 and everyone thinks it's over. But it's not over until it's really over. We've shown how it can be done, and we have to repeat that mentally over 40 minutes. (...)

Today the third quarter cost us the game, we couldn't play offense or defense and completely lost our balance. I think Klepeisz' shot from half court before the break was like an uppercut. (...) To go into the locker room down five was like a shock. After that, we needed a quarter to understand that we have to play more aggressively. (...) They hit really big shots and we needed to stay calm and felt great stress; there suffered turnovers very cheaply. But in the last quarter we played great. (...)

Last year we were 2-0 against Bonn and then lost twice at home, still had to go to the fifth game. Ulm is playing very well. We have to be patient, counter when they play that well again, and be there when their level goes down. Because that's going to happen."       

Andreas Obst: "I think we had a couple of opportunities to attack. It was a couple of turnovers, two to three shots that didn't fall. In the first half, defensively we didn't stand quite as well and we allowed a few easy things. We had the right attitude, but the last step was missing. We lack a bit of confidence and energy right now. We couldn't step on the gas as much and Ulm wanted it more. Now we have to step it up a notch, be more physical and show that we want it more."

Isaac Bonga: "Unfortunately, we started a bit late to show our real game. We have to be that aggressive from the start. It will be similarly loud in Ulm as it was for us here today. That has to push us on Friday and give us the right energy for 40 minutes."   

Ulm head coach, Anton Gavel: "We made it unnecessarily exciting. I think we played better in the third and fourth quarters and then just had a lot of turnovers. That must not happen to us. We have to work on that so that we can do better in game three. I don't want to sound snooty, but we were up by 14 or 15 points. We played our way to get there and then somehow almost gave it away again. But at least it was a win in the end. But we still have to improve. Now it's about being mentally strong and getting another win. (...) The series against Berlin is long over, nobody cares about that anymore. It's all about this series. 

Game recap:

Head coach Andrea Trinchieri had a little trick up his sleeve compared to Game 1 and Freddie Gillespie started instead of Zylan Cheatham together with Andi Obst, Nick Weiler-Babb, Isaac Bonga and Niklas Wimberg. But already after three minutes the head coach had to take a timeout after a furious start by the guests. All five Ulm players scored quickly and also forced three turnovers (15-6/4th). Even though the timeout did not disrupt the offensive flow, the FCBB managed to get closer with two Obst threes. Laboriously they fought their way into the game and got their first stops as a reward. Nevertheless, the first quarter went clearly to Ulm, 27-20.

Corey Walden led the way in the second quarter, running freely and sinking a three-pointer from the corner. Gillespie cleaned up against Caboclo in the zone and pulled in a few big rebounds. Piece by piece, the Munich team worked its way back. After a 14-6 run they took the lead for the first time in the game (16th). The increasing physicality had an effect on the opponents. The dreaded fastbreaks were only rarely successful. Only Juan Nunez, as in the first playoff game, was almost unstoppable. The highlight was Thommy Klepeisz's one-legged buzzer-beater over half the court just before the break - 44-39 Ulm.

Ulm counters Bayern's first lead

Ulm countererd the first Bayern lead with another hot stretch to start the second half. Once again, Ulm scored at will and forced the raging Trinchieri to call a timeout after two minutes (52-41). The only difference was that the home side continued to struggle. Ex-Munich player Karim Jallow was twice allowed to saunter freely to the basket and was applauded by coach Anton Gavel.  The FCBB lost a whopping 15 turnovers in just 27 minutes. This was an invitation for Ulm's fast game. Only Obst (34 points) with his offensive quality provided a little hope before the final ten minutes and Bayern was down 71-56 with ten to play. 

Bayern turns up the heat and makes it a game

Caboclo and Klepeisz destroyed any good feelings heading into the quarter with two blocks. Obst fought with all his might against the threatening 0-2 start of the series. The sharpshooter sank eight of his three-point attempts and reduced the deficit to 77-66 (33rd). The hosts now applied a lot of pressure on the ball and double-teamed the ball handler at every chance and the tactic worked. Harris and Bonga each forced turnovers and brought Bayern dangerously close (80-73/35th). Suddenly there were second, third, sometimes even fourth chances as well as an open three-pointer by Obst to make it 85-80. But despite all their efforts, the Munich team couldn't get closer than three points (91-88/ seven seconds before the end).