The decision has been made: The basketball players of FC Bayern Munich are in the playoffs of the Euroleague for the second time in a row. After the 82:57 win against Red Star Belgrade, coach Andrea Trinchieri’s team is in eighth place three games before the end of the season. The Serbs and Alba Berlin could still catch up after victories, but Bayern won the direct comparison against both.
For the first time, something like a playoff atmosphere could be felt in the Audi Dome, an impressive 6041 spectators came to the Audi Dome, but among them 450 Serbs in the guest corner, who made more noise at times. And they initially had reason to be happy: although the Munich pros started with enormous energy, the Serbs, who were well set up by former Bayern coach Dejan Radonjic, dominated the initial phase and rushed to 9:2. But above all FCB top scorer Augustine Rubit held back and scored the first seven of his 22 points before the entire team improved and closed the gap to 15:18 after the first quarter. Darrun Hilliard scored the first lead (21:20), appropriately cheered by the basketball-unaccustomed fans. And Bayern’s offensive was slowly getting going, the defense was working reliably as usual anyway – by the break the lead had grown to nine points (42:33). After that, Bayern controlled the game, leading 63:43 before the last quarter and didn’t let the victory go away. Deshaun Thomas and (16) and Ognjen Jaramaz (12) scored in double digits.
