87-80 - Bayern starts with a win against Ulm in front of 5,300 fans

The Bayern Basketball team had a successful season premiere: In front of 5,300 fans in the Audi Dome - including club boss Herbert Hainer and Ben, the new FCBB mascot - Andrea Trinchieri's team won the entertaining southern duel with Ulm 87-80.

Gameday two follows on Monday in Frankfurt (17:30) before the EuroLeague opener at the Audi Dome on Thursday (20:30) with co-favorite Fenerbahce Istanbul.

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Against Ulm, the Munich team, still without captain Lucic and others, started with momentum and tempo (19-10/7th). The guests then defended much harder and even took a 35-33 lead (18th). A four-point game by top scorer Cassius Winston (25 points) made it 54-42 and the lead was a sign of things to come in the end - a win.

Points per game Bayern - Ulm: 24-18, 15-21, 28-15, 20-26.

Stats: Two-point shooting: 46% (FCBB) // 49% (Ulm); Three-point shooting: 33% // 26%; Free-throw shooting: 82% // 92%; Rebounds: 41 // 37; Assists: 18 // 18; Turnovers:  8 // 8.

Head coach, Andrea Trinchieri: "The game was a roller coaster. When we defended, we were very good. The second quarter was very bad and lacked ideas on offense. That can happen, because we had never played with that lineup. (...) But we were solid enough to secure the game. We could have finished the game earlier, but there is always an opponent; they hit some shots and our concentration was not at the right level. But it's a good start because it's a victory. (...) I'm very happy with the play of our two rookies, Winston and Gillespie. Cassius was good - he read the defense well. He knows how to score and is also a good passer. With him, I like that he fills out the stat sheets, not only with points, but also with assists and rebounds. Freddie was also really good and if he always gives us ten points, four blocks and eight rebounds in 20 minutes, we'll be fine. (...) Nick was also solid and Andi very aggressive, he did his job. (...) Paul gave us spacing and was always in the right place in the offense. Like I said before, he's on his last leg, he just needs some speed in his execution - the rest is there. (...) Now we just need to find our rhythm a little bit and play together. Whether my team is ready for the EuroLeague, I don't know - nobody knows. (...)                       

I wish Anton a very long and successful career; I think he will be a very good coach."

Cassius Winston: "The team played hard and stuck together. We made the plays we needed to and that's how we won the game. Of course, I have to get used to basketball in Europe - it's an adjustment. The coaches are doing a great job of helping me in practice, explaining the rules and making the adjustment quickly. I want to initiate plays and win games, make the team better and succeed together."

Herbert Hainer, FCB-President: "Congratulations to the team on the opening win. That was a nice first night of basketball with an early good game from guard Winston and a great atmosphere in the Audi Dome - that makes a great desire to see more."

Ulm coach, Anton Gavel: "Congratulations to Bayern. They were able to pull away at the end of the first quarter, but we then responded well and were able to equalize at halftime. But in the third and fourth quarters, the offensive rebounds hurt us tremendously; most of them then turned into three- or even four-point plays, plus easy lay-ups. When you give a team like Bayern so many second chances, you lose the game. In the end, we fought and showed good sides as well, but you have to have the perfect game to be able to compete here."       

Game Recap:

Trinchieri started the season with Winston, Ognjen Jaramaz, Nick Weiler-Babb, Augustine Rubit and Gillespie. The new playmaker Winston introduced himself right from the start with three safely converted free throws, and newcomer Gillespie came up trumps with an impressive block of the former Bayern Jallow (6-5/3rd). The defense stepped up, the ball moved more quickly up front and Winston served Weiler-Babb with a fine touch pass leading to the European Championship bronze medal winner hammering the ball into the basket (12-7/5th). Trinchieri made a change and Paul Zipser came on two minutes before the quarter break. His team maintained the lead quite confidently, and when Zipser scored from the free-throw line for a 24-16 lead quite a few spectators in the Audi Dome had goose bumps. After the first ten minutes, the Munich team was ahead 24-18.

Top scorer Winston

Winston played with his great speed time and again and he brought the lead to double figures (30-19/12th). The guests fought, but had a hard time against the gripping defense of the FCBB. Suddenly and for no apparent reason, however, the circumstances changed: Ulm defended more intensively, Bayern's attack came up fruitless. Trinchieri called a timeout, because Ulm had taken the lead with a 16-1 run (35-33/18th). Nick Weiler-Babb ended Bayern's five-minute scoring drought with a three-pointer to make it 36-35 (19th). At halftime the teams were tied - 39-39.

Six points for Zipser

The Munich team regrouped at the break and pulled away to 49-42 (24th), mainly thanks to six Zipser points. A rare four-point play by Winston (54-42/25th) also helped to take a bigger lead. The Bavarians really got going and visibly enjoyed the fast switching from defense to offense - a pace that was too fast for the Ulm team (62-46/28th).

Munich remained alert on defense and maintained the double-digit lead (71-60/33rd). Ulm's Robinson countered with a three-pointer, Hawley followed with a tap-in  and the FCBB followed with a time-out (73-65/35th). Weiler-Babb's three-pointer did the lead good and Winston scored seemingly at will (78-67/36th). All of a sudden, Munich's shot stopped falling and Ulm was of course immediately on the spot and came closer with a 6-0 run (78-73/37th). After the meeting with coach Trinchieri, Winston sank his next three-pointer and underlined his early form (81-73/38th). The FCBB stayed focused and did not put themselves in serious danger in crunch time - Weiler-Babb's three-pointer took a  86-78 lead with 21 seconds left.

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