Basketball Bundesliga
The mission to defend the title ends for the FC Bayern basketball players at the home tournament in the quarter-finals. Honorary President Uli Hoeneß storms deeply disappointed. Initially, the Munich team want to avoid a coaching discussion.
Ludwigsburg’s Thomas Wimbush (l) pulls against Bavaria’s national player Danilo Barthel to the basket.
Photo: Ulf Duda / fotoduda.de / BBL / Pool / dpa
Grandstand guest Uli Hoeneß was clearly served and fled the Audi Dome. As a big favorite, the FC Bayern basketball players failed miserably at the home championship tournament and were eliminated in the playoff quarter-finals for the first time since 2012.
The Munich team won the second leg against the MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg 74:73 (45:36) in a nervous thriller on Friday, but were eliminated after adding up the results. The underdog won the first duel with 87:83. “I’ve had enough for today,” Hoeneß scolded as he quickly left after the final siren.
The champions recorded their worst Bundesliga performance since the first season after promotion. In front of Honorary President Hoeneß, 16 points from national player Paul Zipser were not enough to advance, at Ludwigsburg Marcos Knight triumphed with 20 points. “I couldn’t be prouder,” enthused giant coach John Patrick. His team will now face ratiopharm Ulm in the semi-finals, which after the 101: 61 in the first leg also won the second game against the Fraport Skyliners from Frankfurt with 96:69.
Not so for Bayern, for whom a disappointing season ended without a title. “We weren’t mentally able to stay focused for 40 minutes,” stated managing director Marko Pesic, but protected his players because of the special circumstances in Corona times. “I can’t blame the boys, everyone gave their maximum.” Pesic wanted to prevent a discussion about coach Oliver Kostic right after the game: “That would be disrespectful.”
The Munich team gave up a temporary twelve-point lead. “Today you can see a great performance against a strong opponent, the players are totally in,” said Hoeneß at half time at Magentasport. “I have the feeling that they really want to reach the semifinals.” But things turned out differently.
After Danilo Barthel’s first basketball success, the deputy chairman of the supervisory board applauded with his arms raised on the almost empty grandstand. The pressure was palpable, Pesic kept shouting loudly through his mask towards the floor.
Ludwigsburg started confidently, used Munich’s weakness several times in the defensive rebound, as in the first leg, and developed second chances. But Bayern were initially unimpressed. In the 10: 9 lead by a three from Vladimir Lucic, Hoeneß and Pesic jumped up in synchronized cheers.
Ludwigsburg initially looked visibly battered, hardly hit from a distance. Bayern’s Zipser, however, showed a clear increase, dunking over Thomas Wimbush II, but had to go to the bench early with foul problems. The Munich team moved away to more than ten points, but did not exploit the opponent’s weak phase consistently enough.
Led by the lively and strong US Guard Knight, Ludwigsburg stayed tuned and kept the game open. In the final quarter, the people of Munich got the great nerve flutter. Ludwigsburg even took the lead, Bavaria initially struck back. However, with 3.8 seconds to go, Munich’s Petteri Koponen lost the ball, which Ludwigsburg used to advance. The triple attempt by Bayern’s Vladimir Lucic, which would have meant extra time if successful, only smacked the ring.
