An late Tuesday evening, Ettore Messina sat in the small press room of the basketball hall in Munich and explained what he has never had to explain this season: a defeat. He has always won the first five games of the Italian Serie A and the first five games of the European Euroleague with Armani Milan. And because Messina, 62 years old, is one of the most influential coaches in the history of his sport, he was able to explain immediately why it wasn’t enough for a win in Munich: “Our one-on-one defense wasn’t good enough today. “
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On the way to the press room, he passed FC Bayern fans who were delighted that their team had won 83:77 against one of the big favorites in the Euroleague. They were not only amused, but also relieved. In the first five games of the competition, their team had lost four times.
But now she has won a game that could mean more than just a victory in the statistics. And if you want to understand why that is, you shouldn’t look at the table, but listen to Messina. There is no coach – except presumably the clever Spaniard Aíto, who resigned in Berlin this summer – who has dealt with Bavarian basketball as intensively as Ettore Messina last season.
“That makes a big difference”
In the Euroleague he played seven times with Milan against Munich. Twice in the main round. Five times in the play-offs. In the end, Bayern were only four points short of advancing to the final four. When Messina was asked in the press room how their new team had changed compared to the old one, he said: “The philosophy, the style and the toughness are still there. At the perimeter, however, they are very physical and very well-versed. That makes a big difference. “
Perimeter? This is what the area along the three-point line is called in basketball. In most cases, it is not the very big players who cavort there, but the so-called guards and forwards. Those who are faster with their feet. Those who are more skilled with their hands. The ones who dribble, pass and throw best. So those who decide in modern basketball games.
In Munich there is mainly one person who can do that: Vladimir Lučić from Serbia. On Tuesday he collected 20 points against Milan, four of them in the final two minutes. He knows what to do in those moments when a game is being decided. He is the pilot who can land the aircraft safely even in a storm. Now – as indicated in the match against Milan – Lučić seems to have the co-drivers he missed last season. Above all the Americans Darrun Hilliard (17 points) and Corey Walden (16). You are not only skillful and quick in one-on-one, but also strong. That is the difference that Messina means. “Yes,” said Andrea Trinchieri, Bayern’s coach, later in the press room, “we have a little more variability in attack, more options.”
This Thursday (8 p.m. free at MagentaSport), pilots and crew members will continue in the Euroleague away from home: in the German duel against Alba Berlin
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