The visitors produced ironclad defense in the fourth quarter and comfortably outscored Baskonia in the closing stages.
Resilient Bayern snatched a deserved win at misfiring Baskonia
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FC Bayern Munich roared to a 68-76 win at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in Round 3 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season after the visitors overcame a 10-point deficit with a 6-22 run that started late in the third quarter and blew away the hosts down the stretch.
Baskonia looked like the more likely winner when it carved out a 62-52 lead, with guard Vanja Marinkovic and forward Tadas Sedekerskis leading the third-quarter charge, but the home team’s offense came to a screeching halt in the final 10 minutes.
Baskonia’s ordeal was personified by yet another poor performance from guard Markus Howard, who scored a mere 4 points and shot 0-of-4 from three-point range as Bayern’s aggressive defense stifled him out.
Winning the rebounding battle
Despite missing former NBA stalwart Serge Ibaka, the visitors racked up an impressive 43 rebounds, 10 more than Baskonia, highlighting their domination in the paint from start to finish.
Codi Miller-McIntyre netted Baskonia’s opening 5 points, but he too soon faded away and Baskonia relied on Marinkovic, who came off the bench, and Sedekerskis to keep them in the driving seat against a battling Bayern. The visiting team just refused to roll over and, although Bayern trailed for much of the physical contest, it forced Baskonia into submission in the final 10 minutes when it ground down the hosts thanks to aggressive defense.
Making big shots at the end
At the other end, Carsen Edwards pulled the strings and hit some crunch shots down the stretch, as did Niels Giffey and Sylvain Francisco.
Baskonia was undone by the livewire trio, who shared the ball selflessly to engineer 17 team assists from Bayern, which had more in the tank than Baskonia down the stretch. The German side will thus head into Friday’s tough visit to Barcelona with its tail up, while Baskonia will be under pressure to deliver against Zalgiris Kaunas on its home court on Thursday.