Ludwigsburg. The dramaturgy of the first semi-final play-off game between the MHP giants Ludwigsburg and FC Bayern Munich on Saturday evening was somewhat reminiscent of that of a bike race in the Tour de France: There was the brave outsider from Ludwigsburg, who was like an outlier in one Mountain stage tackled the almost impossible task of escaping the main field – in this case FC Bayern Munich – including its prominent line-up. Now it is not uncommon on the Tour of France for the ripped off favorites field to catch the tireless underdogs just before the finish line. But on Saturday evening in the Ludwigsburg MHP-Arena, the team was rewarded by coach John Patrick for its courage: It saved the tight lead, which had been much more comfortable at the beginning, over time and won with 101: 98. How it finally came about, even successful coach Patrick was too nerve-wracking. “A little bit of drama,” he said after the first game in the best-of-five series. “It was our game for 38 minutes, we were shaking for the last two minutes.”
If the lead changed six times in the first few minutes, the giants pulled away with a furious performance. She forced seven ball losses by the Munich star ensemble in the first quarter. Andrea Trinchieri, Bayern’s spirited coach, shook her head and looked at the statistics sheet after the game. “We have a better field throw rate, free throw rate, more rebounds, more assists, a better ranking – and we lose,” said an annoyed Trinchieri. “Why?”, He asked, to give the answer himself: “Because we lost the ball too often, it’s that simple.” In addition, Ludwigsburg, in addition to its intense defense, also showed the face in attack that the yellows did -Black had led to the main round win. After Barry Brown’s three-point game, they were 29:13 in front.
“We implemented our game plan very well,” said Patrick happily. Because even in the aftermath, his team hardly had a phase of weakness and was bursting with self-confidence. This was evident in Jordan Hulls’ threesome in the fast break to 37:22 or in Jaleen Smith’s distance throw two meters behind the three-point line to 44:32. But Munich, too, was finally playing like a top team, albeit a little too late in the opinion of their coach: “If we go into a play-off game with the body language from a normal season game, it will cost us the victory.”
The Trinchieri troop stalked up to 47:52, but shouldn’t catch up until the end of the game. This was primarily due to the Ludwigsburg follow-up commitments Jonah Radebaugh and Jamel McLean. After a calf injury from Hulls, Radebaugh stepped in impressively for the sniper, picked nine rebounds, defended viciously and became an important factor offensively (14 points). “He was the game winner,” praised Patrick. McLean’s achievement made Trinchieri a building block that helped the Ludwigsburgers to a “well-deserved victory”. “We haven’t found a way to stop it,” he said.
McLean spun under the basket, hitting middle distance throws in falling back and brimming with confidence. The latter so much that after a threesome – by no means his specialty – he started to cheer before the ball fluttered through the basket. His 97:84 with just under two minutes on the clock seemed to be the decision. “We were a bit nervous at the end,” summarized Patrick, as the giants suddenly felt that self-assurance.
Yorman Polas Bartolo gave the ball twice in crunchtime. Bayern star player Vladimir Lucic pushed free throws with plenty of theatricality to 95:97 with 34 seconds left to play. In these, Brown kept his composure. The giant guard, known for individual actions, dribbled with provocative calm on the center line until there were only four seconds left on the shot clock, moved to the basket and, to the amazement of his coach, played the ball on Smith. “The pass surprised me,” admitted Patrick, who had watched Smith score from the corner (100: 95). The game was not decided: Bayern came up to 98: 101 and had the ball four seconds before the end. But Lucic, closely defended by Radebaugh, clearly missed two threesomes.
Today comes the revenge: At 7:00 p.m. (Magentasport / Sport1), the Munich team make another attempt to inflict the first defeat of the season on the giants in the MHP-Arena.
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