Basketball Bundesliga: Brose Bamberg loses narrowly to FC Bayern

The best performance under coach Oren Amiel was unfortunately not enough: Brose Bamberg gave vice-champion FC Bayern Munich a great fight, equalized at 82-82 with three minutes to go and even had a chance to win, but in crunch time FC Bayern fought the Bambergers down with 5:13 left.

With the defeat, Brose Bamberg slips down to 12th place in the table, the gap to the playoff places is now already three wins and the direct comparison (MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg). However, the team's improving performance form under coach Oren Amiel gives hope that Brose Bamberg can start a winning streak to close the gap. Against FC Bayern, the Amiel boys put in their best performance so far since the coaching change, not letting a 12-point deficit in the third quarter intimidate them, but coming back to within point. Especially the youngest newcomer Tomas Kyzlink does the game of the Domstädter extremely well.

The Czech fills the gaps in the defense, defends aggressively and kept the home side in the game in the first quarter after a 0:5 start with his six of eight points. Worth seeing the crashing dunk at 12:12 after a steal by Justin Robinson (11 points). Nevertheless, Bayern was leading 30:24 at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter was evenly balanced for the Bambergers, who came back from a 32:41 deficit with strong performances from Akil Mitchell and Shannon Scott (13 points) to close the gap to 38:41. But again FCB took advantage in the last minute of the quarter without mercy - 42:49.

Bamberg started the third quarter weaker and conceded eight points in a row after a Prewitt three-pointer. After 45:57, a strong 14:2 run succeeded to equalize, in which especially the three-pointer with bonus free throw by Justin Robinson gave the Bambergers confidence. Due to the change of coach, especially center Martinas blossomed. Under former coach Roijakkers, the Lithuanian (12 points) suffered from the fact that the Bambergers did not establish an active inside game under the basket, but mainly "banged" threes. Now the playmakers increasingly look for the center to pick-and-roll, passes come more often under the basket, and thanks to four offensive rebounds Geben dusted off some points or free throws after the foul whistle.

In the final quarter, top scorer Akil Mitchell (16 points) came up trumps once again, throwing Bamberg to a 78-77 lead with five minutes to go. But unfortunately the Bavarians threw everything into the scales in the last three minutes and finally won 86-95 at Brose Arena.

Oren Amiel (Head Coach Brose Bamberg): "If we want to win against a Euroleague team, we have to be focused over 40 minutes. When we had the chance to extend the small lead, we lost focus. Munich then had strong plays coming from the players who always take responsibility for them in such phases. Everyone knew Lucic would take the throws - and he did. But we are improving from game to game. If we manage to minimize the ball losses, we are on a very good way. I have a good feeling with my team."

Already on January 5, 2022, Brose Bamberg has to play the Hamburg Towers, against the currently ninth in the table Bamberg has to win, otherwise the chances of a playoff participation will dwindle still in the preliminary round.