Brose Bamberg loses by clear margin at FC Bayern

The around 250 Bamberg fans who made the journey had not expected such a semi-final. After a week-long break, the reigning champions Brose Bamberg produced a very weak display against FC Bayern Munich in the first semi-final game and lost by the deserved margin of 72:95 in the Audi Dome. The league title-holders now trail the cup winners by 0:1 in the series.

It was Brose Bamberg’s fourth defeat against FC Bayern Munich this season – and the most humiliating and biggest one. Whereas the team of Head Coach Luca Banchi had earned a week of rest after defeating Telekom Baskets Bonn 3:0, FC Bayern had to go the whole five games in its quarter-final series and had just two days to recuperate. Yet apart from the tireless and outstanding Daniel Hackett, the top scorer with 25 points, and (with some reservations) Augustine Rubit and (at least in offense) Dorell Wright, no Bamberg player showed the right attitude, the right tenacity and the necessary bit of aggression on court. Although Nikos Zisis bagged seven points, he conceded just as many turnovers while building plays than he made direct assists. The other five Bamberg players were simply a huge disappointment. Ricky Hickman and Luka Mitrovic, who were both included by Banchi in the starting five, remained ineffective for the most part. Both of them made just a single point from a free throw and did not score at all from the floor. Leon Radosevic disappointed defensively under his own basket and at the other end. The center failed to get on the score sheet from the floor. Lucca Staiger drained just one of his four attempted buckets from beyond the arc and Maodo Lo made just one of his two lay-ups. A paltry eight points from five experienced players – that was clearly too little to survive in the Audi Dome. The very opposite was true of Bayern. Its four top scorers Cunningham, Djedovic, Redding and Booker only accounted for a tally of two points more than Bamberg’s, but the other players in the rotation added 29.

The story of the game is quickly told. Munich stifled Bamberg’s efforts in offense with very strong defending and, after the scores were tied at 10:10, pulled 32:18 ahead. Three buckets from downtown by Lucca Staiger, Dorell Wright and Nikos Zisis sliced the deficit to 36:45 at half-time. However, Bayern played Brose’s defense dizzy after the break and scored 30 points in the third period to surge 53:75 in front. There was to be no comeback by Bamberg: The reigning champs hardly put up any resistance for six minutes in the final quarter. Munich produced a 15:3 run to take a humiliating 90:56 lead. Bamberg managed to put a slightly better complexion on the score in the final minutes, in particular thanks to nine points from Daniel Hackett.

Luca Banchi commented: “We had problems from the outset in matching Munich’s energy and intensity. I’m sad because I didn’t expect us to go about our job the way we did in such an important moment, game one in a semi-final series. Now we have to press the reset button and focus on game two. Until then, we have to change our attitude and conduct quite a bit.”