German Basketball League: Bamberg Baskets suffer home defeat against Bayern

Bamberg Baskets had virtually no chance against German cup winners FC Bayern Basketball on Easter Sunday. Munich pulled away by more than ten points in the very first quarter. In the end, they lost 81:99 against the current league leaders under head coach Pablo Laso.

Despite the defeat, Bamberg looked better at times against Bayern than in the first two duels this year, the 69:91 in the first leg and the 61:81 in the cup semi-final. After Bayern's turbo offense to make it 33:53, Bamberg put up a good fight at times, especially physically. Thanks to top scorers Trey Woodbury and Zach Copeland, with the former scoring 19 points and the latter 14, Woltmann's players cut the deficit to 51:62 and then to 63:75 again after 54:72. Yet the home side allowed Bayern to fire in its shots from beyond the arc too often in front of 5,700 spectators - Munich drained 15 buckets from beyond the arc to end Bamberg's efforts to catch up. Apart from Woodbury and Copeland, Filip Stanic and Adrian Nelson also scored in double figures.

Arne Woltmann (Head Coach Bamberg Baskets) commented: "Unlike in the first two duels against Bayern, we didn't let our physicality dominate us this time. But we didn't do the second important thing well: defending our shooters. We allowed too many free throws. And Bayern punished that consistently. In the end, it was clearer than we could have made it."

Bamberg Baskets visit the reigning German champions Ratiopharm Ulm on Saturday, April 6, 2024. Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m.