Brose Bamberg loses to Fenerbahçe and Bayern

The German champions Brose Bamberg suffered two defeats over the weekend. On Friday evening, the club from Upper Franconia lost narrowly by 69:77 on the road at reigning Euroleague champions Fenerbahçe Istanbul, then on Sunday went down at home against German league leaders FC Bayern Munich by 63:71 – despite leading by 29:14 at one stage.

Before the highly-charged tussle in the domestic competition against top-of-the-table FC Bayern, Bamberg first had to travel to Euroleague champions Fenerbahçe Istanbul. The players of Assistant Coach Ilias Kantzouris (Andrea Trinchieri did not make the journey because of his shoulder operation) held their own well, especially in the first period. Thanks to seven points by Daniel Hackett (11 points), Bamberg reduced the deficit from 5:11 to 15:16 at the start of the second quarter, but then Fenerbahçe proceeded to pull away by 32:42 at half-time. After the break, Bamberg became disgruntled at the referees’ line for a number of minutes and picked up many fouls, as the lead grew to 35:52. However, Bamberg switched to zone defense and threw the Euroleague champs off their stride in attack in the final period and so was able to cut the gap to below double digits by the end of the encounter. That was mainly due to top scorer Dejan Musli, who chalked up 13 of his 18 points after the break. However, Bamberg never managed to get closer than the final score of 69:77.

The game against FC Bayern Munich on Sunday evening began with a surprise: Head Coach Andrea Trinchieri was back on the sideline for the first time since his shoulder operation in mid-January. With his left arm still strapped in place in a sling and so handicapped, Trinchieri saw his team get off to a lightning start and surge 14:1 in front. In particular Maodo Lo, with ten out of his total haul of 12 points, could hardly be tamed by Bayern. Daniel Hackett, Dorell Wright and Augustine Rubit followed up this high-paced beginning by Bamberg by adding points to make it 25:11 after the first period. The home side still had the game under control by midway through the second quarter, as Wright and Rubit (10 points apiece) gave their side its highest lead (31:16). However, Brose’s engine began to stutter in offense. Its attacks were no longer so fluid as a result of Bayern’s far more physical defending, while Munich was also able to snatch up more rebounds in attack and defense. Now it was the visitors who put their stamp on the game, dictated the pace and produced a run of eight points without reply to slash Bamberg’s lead to 35:29 at half-time.

Although the home side stretched the gap again to 43:33 thanks to buckets from beyond the arc by Dorell Wright and top scorer Daniel Hackett (12 points), little clicked for it in attack in the final 15 minutes in the face of more aggressive defending from Bayern. The league leaders uncompromisingly exploited the small gaps in Bamberg’s defense and, when they missed a shot, a Munich player was often faster to snap up the rebound and score at the second attempt. Bamberg slipped behind for the first time after 27 minutes. Trinchieri’s players tried to turn the game around with solo actions – but Bayern’s defense was able to effectively stop Bamberg’s efforts in attack. The home side managed to score just nine points in the final period and a meager two in the last four minutes, when Leon Radosevic (10 points) closed the gap to 61:63. That was too little against the league leaders, who widened their winning margin on the last attacks.

Andrea Trinchieri commented: “Congratulations to Bayern. There’s not much to say. It’s obvious what we’re capable of and what not. We played good basketball with a lot of energy in the first 15 minutes. We lacked that energy for 25 minutes due to our packed schedule of games. This was the twelfth time we’ve had less than 48 hours to regenerate. At the moment, we’re lacking sleep, time to recuperate and our injured players.”

Because of the Europe-wide cup week, the Euroleague has a break next week. The German champions’ next game is on the road at Science City Jena on Friday, February 16, 2018, on the 22nd matchday of the German league (tip-off: 7 p.m.).