FC Bayern Munich was carried by a big second quarter to its first victory of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season, knocking off ALBA Berlin 72-90 to also grab bragging rights domestically in a clash of German teams.
Second quarter carries Bayern to first win
Game Report
1 min read
FC Bayern Munich was carried by a big second quarter to its first victory of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season, knocking off ALBA Berlin 72-90 to also grab bragging rights domestically in a clash of German teams. Nick Weiler-Babb led the way with 15 points and 4 assists for Bayern, which took the second quarter 9-31 to improve its record to 1-1. Vladimir Lucic and Wade Baldwin both added 14 points for Bayern with Jalen Reynolds chipping in 12 points. ALBA remain winless despite Marcus Eriksson picking up 15 points and Jayson Granger adding 10 points and 6 assists.
In the first-ever EuroLeague showdown between ALBA coach Aito Garcia Reneses and Bayern’s Andrea Trinchieri, Simone Fontecchio scored the first 4 points for the hosts before Leon Radosevic scored twice at the other end to make it 6-6. Fontecchio’s next basket was a three-pointer for a 13-6 lead. Reynolds and Lucic both converted three-point plays and Paul Zipser drained a three-pointer to give Bayern its first lead, 18-19. Granger responded with a pair of triples as ALBA led 27-21 after 10 minutes. Niels Giffey scored early in the second quarter, but the hosts could not get anything going after that. Baldwin tallied five points and Nihad Dedovic and Weiler-Babb both hit three-pointers as Bayern reeled off a 0-16 run for a 29-39 lead. Luke Sikma finally stopped ALBA’s drought after nearly 5 minutes, but Bayern just kept going with Weiler-Babb and Lucic hitting triples. The advantage grew to 19 points at 33-52 before Peyton Siva's three-pointer at the buzzer sent the teams into the break with Bayern ahead 36-52.
Lucic gave Bayern the perfect start to the second half with a three-pointer and Baldwin’s jumper increased the cushion to 21 points. Jonas Mattisseck nailed a three-pointer and Ben Lammers converted a three-point play to trim the margin to 44-61, but the guests remained unstoppable with TJ Bray’s triple pushing the gap to 44-67. Giffey and Eriksson hit from long range for ALBA to move within 52-67, and Lammers scored early in the fourth for ALBA but the home side then went scoreless while Weiler-Babb and Baldwin’s three-point play made it 58-82. Eriksson tried to get the hosts back with two three-pointers but Weiler-Babb and Lucic hit from outside and ALBA could not get closer than 18 points the rest of the way.
Game Leaders
Balance and depth
Bayern showed balance and depth in the game with four players in double figures while 11 of the 12 players on the team scored in the game.
Telling numbers
Bayern connected on 68.4% of its 2-point shots as well as 47.4% on three-pointers. The guests also won the rebounding battle 32 to 19, with Bayern grabbing 7 offensive rebounds to just 4 for ALBA.
Bayern undefeated against ALBA in EuroLeague
This game was just the second between Bayern and ALBA in the EuroLeague, with Bayern improving to 2-0 after having knocked off ALBA 76-77 in overtime in the German capital last December, when Vladimir Lucic scored all of his 19 points in the second half and overtime.