Munich’s basketball players were able to prevent the really big misfortune at the end of a less than productive week. FC Bayern won their Bundesliga game against the Seawolves from Rostock with 91:85 (51:39) points and consolidated third place in the table. This time, captain Vladimir Lucic and Serge Ibaka were missing from the Munich squad, who were rested by coach Pablo Laso after the exhausting but unsuccessful trip to Italy in the Euroleague to Bologna and Milan. Even without them, Bayern quickly took a 15-5 lead, also because Carsen Edwards put all of his first three three-pointers into the basket. The lead dwindled by the end of the first quarter, but the Munich team still went into the short break calm (27:16). What was astonishing was not only their strong three-point rate of 50 percent, but also that they didn’t have a single successful two-point throw in their statistics – the first was made by Nick Weiler-Babb at the beginning of the second quarter.
In this second quarter, however, the Munich team initially became more erratic on offense, just one example: several passes from Andreas Obst to Edwards did not find their target during counterattacks under the opposing basket. And the hit rate dropped with every minute. But they could rely on their defense – and on Edwards, who converted his next three-pointer. The 25-year-old professional from Houston, Texas, had 14 points at the end of the game and was Munich’s top scorer along with Devin Booker. Their lead mostly remained at eleven or twelve points; it was only at the end of the game that the Rostock team came close again in front of more than 4,000 spectators – but they were no longer a threat to the German cup winners. The only downer for Bayern was that they lost Elias Harris at the start of the fourth quarter, who limped off the field but later gave the all-clear.
The Munich team are now in 14th place in the Euroleague, two wins separate them from qualifying for the playoffs
The conciliatory conclusion for Bayern was offset by two Euroleague defeats on their trip to Italy this week; On Tuesday, after a strong performance, they lost rather unfortunately 83:85 at second-placed Virtus Bologna, and on Friday they suffered a fully deserved 62:76 defeat at Armani Milan. The latter was also so annoying because the Lombards are a direct rival to Munich for qualification for the playoff round – and have now won the direct comparison. The strong performance of Serge Ibaka, who scored 16 points and was the least able to compensate for the guests’ weak three-point rate (22 percent), didn’t help either.
The Munich team has to reach at least tenth place in order to reach the knockout round via the newly introduced playins. But they are currently only 14th, two wins behind tenth place: feasible, but difficult. “We only had ten to 15 good minutes,” said coach Pablo Laso angrily on Friday: “Mentally we still have to be much more ready against a team like Milan.”
In Rostock, Bayern were ready again despite the hectic week and the strain of travel. But the truth is that the Seawolves weren’t aggressive enough to spoil Bayern’s end of the week.
2024-01-07 17:07:33
#Basketball #Euroleague #defeats #Bayern #wins #Bundesliga #Rostock #Sport
