FC Bayern Munich returned to its winning ways with a strong defensive performance in defeating Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 74-59.
Bayern gets enough offense to win defensive battle
Game Report
1 min read
FC Bayern Munich returned to its winning ways with a strong defensive performance in defeating Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 74-59. Bayern kept Zvezda scoreless for the final 4 minutes to secure the victory - the German side’s fifth in the last six games to move to 5-2. Wade Baldwin and Nick Weiler-Babb combined for 5 three-pointers in scoring 15 points each, while Vladimir Lucic tallied 12 points and Jalen Reynolds collected 8 points and 11 rebounds. Johnny O’Bryant paced Zvezda with 17 points and Corey Walden scored 12 points as the Serbian side dropped to 2-4, including 0-3 on the road.
Regular Season
Round 7 of 34
Group Regular Season
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After Marko Jagodic-Kuridza opened the scoring for the guests, Bayern got three-pointers from Baldwin and Sasha Grant to lead 7-2. Langston Hall was unfazed and hit back-to-back triples, but Grant added another from deep to send Bayern back up. O’Bryant and Reynolds swapped four points each and Bayern was ahead 18-14 after 10 minutes. JaJuan Johnson pushed the Bayern cushion to 20-14 but Jordan Loyd drained a three-pointer while Bayern failed to score for more than 2 minutes, and O’Bryant added 5 points in a 4-13 surge to lead 24-27. Bayern was able to hold Zvezda scoreless the final two minutes of the half, and Baldwin made two layups to put the hosts up 33-31 at the break.
Malcolm Thomas opened the second half with 4 points but Hall’s layup snapped a 12-0 Bayern run, and Zvezda moved back ahead 38-39 on back-to-back three-pointers from Walden and Jagodic-Kuridza. The lead went back and forth with O’Bryant’s triple making it 42-46 before Weiler-Babb and Baldwin hit triples in a 13-5 finish to the third quarter, with the German side leading 55-51. Neither team scored in the first 2 minutes of the final frame, until Zan Sisko’s three-pointer was followed by Weiler-Babb from deep on the next possession for a 61-53 advantage. Loyd picked up three points in a 0-6 Zvezda run as Bayern couldn’t score for more than 3 minutes and it was 61-59. Reynolds stopped the surge with a hook shot and was followed by Weiler-Babb foul shots and a big Lucic three-pointer to increase the lead to 68-59 with under 2 minutes to play. Lucic added another three-pointer at the buzzer as Bayern worked on improving its points differential in a possible tiebreaker.
Game Leaders
Loyd held in check
Bayern’s defense did a good job keeping Zvezda’s main weapon in check as Jordan Loyd scored only 9 points on 2-of-14 shots, including 1-of-9 from long range. He came into the game as the EuroLeague’s leading scorer at 22.6 points a game, including two games of 30 points or more.
Did you notice
Bayern’s starting lineup included the 18-year-old Sasha Grant, who nailed a three-pointer in the opening minutes of his first action of the season. The Italian, who got into four EuroLeague games last season when he went scoreless in 4:34 minutes, collected 6 points on 2-of-2 three-pointers in 7:40 minutes.
Telling numbers
Bayern held Zvezda to just 39.4% on 2-pointers and 28.6% on 3-pointers. Zvezda’s starters also combined for only 30 points.