The German guard nailed four triples in the third quarter to inspire Bayern’s sixth win in eight games
Andi Obst catches fire again as Bayern imposes its game on Paris
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 26 of 38
Regular Season
FC Bayern MunichBAY
8175
Paris BasketballPBB
Overview
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FC Bayern Munich was prepared for a dog fight as it welcomed Paris Basketball on Tuesday night, with head coach Svetislav Pesic urging his players “to replicate our defensive performances from recent EuroLeague games” in his pregame remarks.
And Bayern did just that as it came away with an 81-75 win. Hosting the EuroLeague's third-best offense (89.7 PPG) heading into the game, the German side was locked in from the off. Drawing energy from its defense, Bayern shared the ball well and recorded eight assists on the other end, taking a 21-18 lead after 10 minutes.
Bayern went on to hold the visitors to just two field goals in the first seven and a half minutes of the second quarter and forced the French side to commit 11 first-half turnovers, securing a 34-31 edge at halftime.
A trade of blows in the opening stages of the second half was followed by a stretch of five and a half minutes that saw Paris net just two field goals, as Bayern maintained a 52-49 lead with 10 minutes left on the clock.
And when the hosts needed some cutting edge on offense, it was time for Andi Obst to make the difference. Despite having gone 1-for-5 from deep in the first three quarters, the Bayern guard caught fire when it mattered most, scoring 14 of his team’s 29 points in the fourth.
The first triple came two minutes in to make it 55-50, but Paris fought back, going on a 2-7 run that trimmed the deficit to 64-61. Then, Obst came to the fore again by drilling his second three-pointer of the closing quarter.
“I think that the first two Obst threes of the fourth quarter killed us,” Paris head coach Francesco Tabellini admitted on EuroLeague TV. “The first one was off an offensive rebound and the second one we lost him coming off [the screen] and then he caught fire and made two crazy baskets.”
Indeed, Obst would go on to drill two more triples, scoring eight of Bayern’s last 10 points of the game to help them clinch an 81-75 win - its fifth home victory in six games. Bouncing back from adversity following a rough start to the season, a Pesic-inspired Bayern has improved its record to 11-15.
“We knew that we had a tough stretch at the beginning of the season, so we took it day by day,” Obst said. “We brought a new coach, we have a little bit more structure now. We worked pretty hard with the lads in the meeting room, stayed together there, spent a lot of time together.”
Bayern held Paris to its lowest-scoring road game of the season by limiting the visitors to under 19 points in each of the first three quarters. The hosts dictated the tempo by dominating the boards 47-36, including 19 offensive rebounds, from which they bagged 21 points.
“I think that the most important thing tonight was our continuity on defense,” Pesic said after the game. “On offense we can play much better of course, but against a team like Paris – very aggressive on the ball, denying, rotation, pick-and-roll, hard hedge – it’s very difficult for us.
“But I must say what the German people say: ‘There are no problems, only solutions.’ We have so many problems from game to game with injuries, with everything, but I’m very proud of the team, how we fought until the end. We didn’t play our game of the season, but enough to win the game.”
A few days after holding a high-flying Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv to just 64 points on the road, Bayern produced a similar defensive outing against one of the best offenses in the league. Should they emulate that performance on Thursday against AS Monaco, Bayern could pose problems for last year’s runner-up.
