German bankruptcies in Europe
Bayern with a horror start, Alba loses despite catching up
October 12, 2023, 10:30 p.m
Bitter evening for the German basketball model teams: Both FC Bayern and Alba Berlin lose in the EuroLeague. While FC Bayern got off to a miserable start and never led throughout the game, Alba ran out of steam in a catch-up effort shortly before the end.
The FC Bayern Munich basketball players also lost their second away game of the season. Coach Pablo Laso’s team lost in the EuroLeague to Panathinaikos Athens 71:78 (30:37), after Bayern had to admit defeat in the Bundesliga in Oldenburg. Bayern were never in the lead against Panathinaikos.
After the hosts had hit their first four field throws, Laso had to take his first timeout after just two and a half minutes after a 0:10 false start. The Munich team was slow to find their rhythm, but were able to rely on Leandro Bolmaro. Thanks to his 15 points in the first half and a stronger defense in the second quarter, the Bundesliga team reduced the lead to 30:37 at the break. In the third quarter, national player Niels Giffey led Bayern with a personal 7-0 run, and the guests reduced their deficit to up to two points.
In the final period, Athens pulled ahead to 74:62 with two minutes left. The Munich team got back into the game with a 9-0 run. But ultimately the race to catch up came too late. Bolmaro became Munich’s top scorer with 19 points.
Alba has to stop catching up
Alba Berlin also lost its second Euroleague game this season. The Bundesliga team narrowly lost 86:91 (47:51) at home in front of 7,700 spectators against the top Spanish team Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. This means that Alba is stuck in the bottom of the table in the premier class. The best Berlin throwers were Tim Schneider with 17 and Johannes Thiemann with 13 points.
Coach Israel Gonzalez had to experiment again under the basket without his two regular centers Yanni Wetzell and Khalifa Koumadje. World champion Thiemann and the recovered Schneider helped out. The Berliners took a 2-0 lead, but then trailed for a long time. The host had some coordination problems in the newly formed team. But Alba fought for every ball and couldn’t be shaken off. Two and a half minutes before the break they briefly took the lead again at 45:43.
But as in the previous defeats against Ulm and FC Bayern Munich, the Berliners lost their thread after the break. They could hardly get into their tempo game and Baskonia was able to pull away to 76:61 at the end of the third quarter. But Alba showed morale and fought back to two points just three minutes before the end (83:85). But the turnaround was no longer successful.