On Friday, Nick Weiler-Babb, who is currently in strong early form, issued a warning down in the winding catacombs of the SAP Gardens: “They play up and down super fast, take a lot of throws. We want to set the tone early.” Weiler-Babb wasn’t referring to the top European team Olympiacos Piraeus; the Munich team had just sent them off the floor with an impressive 84:80 Euroleague win. The 28-year-old rather praised the <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/04/basketball-bundesliga-relegation-for-the-giessen-46ers-is-getting-closer-hessenschau-de/" title="Basketball Bundesliga: Relegation for the Giessen 46ers is getting closer hessenschau.de”>Würzburg Baskets, the Bayern basketball team’s next opponent in the league two days later. The warning was definitely justified, as the game ended extremely close on Sunday afternoon with 70:69 (28:33) for Munich.
The tone was also set by the Lower Franconians, who were in fourth place in the table ahead of the Bavarian derby, while the German champions and cup winners were only in ninth place. Würzburg started the game with an 18:10 lead against the initially sleepy Bayern, where Oscar da Silva missed three three-pointers and was quickly substituted. Yam Madar, Devin Booker and Carsen Edwards, who underlined his impressive form at the end with 14 points, reduced Munich’s deficit again with their points.
In the three-minute break before the second quarter, a charming gentleman found time on this colorful afternoon to propose to his beloved on the field, to the cheers of a sold-out BMW Park. This question was also interesting on Sunday from a sporting perspective: How harmonious is things already in coach Gordon Herbert’s team, how good is the chemistry? There doesn’t have to be a marriage proposal between players as an expression of a functioning structure. But Herbert was certainly self-critical on Friday at the moment when the Munich team extended their impeccable Euroleague home record to three wins. His team is still “in the process of finding things. We don’t have a real team identity yet,” Herbert emphasized. And: You should ask him again at Christmas how he sees the development process.
Against Würzburg it became clear once again how justified Weiler-Babb’s warnings and Herbert’s criticism were. The Munich team went into halftime with a 28:33 deficit, and a lot had slipped away from them in the second quarter. It is noticeable that they have not yet found any consistency in the Bundesliga; the balancing act between the Euroleague and everyday life in the BBL is obviously putting a strain on them. They lost against Ludwigsburg, by a hair against Hamburg, and after the glorious 109:107 Euroleague win against Paris, they lost the game at Mitteldeutscher BC. All opponents who normally can’t hold a candle to Bayern.
Würzburg was perhaps the strongest of these opponents. In the third quarter, the guests, with Mike Lewis II, Mike Davis Jr. and Jhivvan Jackson scoring in double figures, continued to stand up to Bayern, who seemed outplayed, and the Franconians led 53:49 at the end. Until Carsen Edwards equalized to 57:57 with six minutes left in the final quarter – and Shabazz Napier ended the tremor with a layup 15 seconds before the end.
