First the World Cup heroes posed together with the gold trophy, then Andreas Obst and Co. ultimately gave their friend Johannes Thiemann no chance: 25 days after the sensational triumph in Manila, Bayern Munich is in the reunion of the basketball world champions with a victory in the new Euroleague. Season started. The strengthened cup winner defeated their German rivals Alba Berlin on Thursday evening with 80:68 (36:44).
“We didn’t play the basketball we wanted to play in the first half. We tripped ourselves up,” said Obst at MagentaSport. After halftime, Obst said, the team “came out with a good attitude, we defended well. That helped us a lot.” Thiemann stated: “It’s difficult over 40 minutes against a team as deep as Munich.”
Appreciation for the world champions
In Munich’s BMW Park, Munich’s Sylvain Francisco was the best scorer with 17 points on an evening that was once again marked by the greatest success in German basketball history to date. Before tip-off, Obst (8 points), Isaac Bonga (11) and Niels Giffey, who was not yet active again after illness, as well as Alba’s captain Thiemann (12) were particularly recognized.
The golden boys of the DBB each received a gold and black basketball as a souvenir from the hands of President Ingo Weiss of the German Basketball Association, Bayern President Herbert Hainer, managing director Marko Pesic and record national player Patrick Femerling.
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At the start of the game, Alba got off to a strong start, repeatedly stealing the ball from Bayern and scoring reliably in the zone. Thiemann quickly scored ten points, Bonga shone with the rebound and Obst from the three-point line. Although Bayern dominated on the offensive board with their size advantages, star signing Serge Ibaka was back after a rest, the more alert and quicker guests surprisingly pulled away at half-time.
However, Bayern didn’t let this go and took the lead right at the start of the third quarter with a 14-2 run. Bayern’s playmaker Francisco turned up the heat and scored from all positions, while Munich’s superiority in rebounds played into their hands, meaning that Berlin couldn’t get close in the final quarter.
For Bayern, who made it to the quarter-finals in 2021 and 2022, the opening win is the first step on the way to reaching the play-offs as their goal. After finishing 15th last year, the Munich team caused a stir with spectacular additions in the summer, including successful coach Pablo Laso and former NBA champion Ibaka.
The Berliners, 16th in the past season, are currently in a state of upheaval after the departures of world champion Maodo Lo and former captain Luke Sikma and are likely to be in the play-off race or even the Final Four in their own hall next year (24 . until May 26th) have hardly anything to do.
