The French team got its third road win of the season behind a 16-point, 13-rebound effort from Youssoupha Fall.
Consistency proved key for ASVEL in win at Bayern
Artículo
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 23 of 34
Regular Season
FC Bayern MunichBAY
6476
LDLC ASVEL VilleurbanneASV
Overview
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“Consistent. We played consistent for almost 40 minutes. That was the word of the day,” explained LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne head coach Pierric Poupet in the post-game press conference after his side beat FC Bayern Munich 64-76 at BMW Arena on Thursday night.
A single word and a simple concept that the visitors took to an upper level to grab their first win on the road since November 13, 2023, when they beat ALBA Berlin in what was also a very effective defensive effort (68-73). Thursday’s triumph at Bayern was the second time ASVEL gave up less than 70 points to its opponent, and it was a key factor in the win.
ASVEL frustrated Bayern
Despite taking a 17-12 lead after 8 minutes, Bayern struggled all game long both with its shooting and rebounding against Poupet’s squad. Come the final buzzer, the best-ranked team in rebounding lost the battle of the boards 40-26, while Bayern also recorded a below-par shooting night, having gone 24-of-59 from the field goal (40.6%).
“I’m so happy you cannot even imagine because they deserve it and stuck to the game plan,” stated Poupet right after the game. “Sometimes it happens like this. We had a great game. We’ve taken a huge step defensively of late. We showed it today. We started this a couple of weeks ago now and we stayed consistent for about 40 minutes. I hope that we can build on that.”
In a game in which both teams had several players missing, ASVEL was the side which coped best. Bayern didn’t have Serge Ibaka inside, among some other players on its roster, while Devin Booker had to leave the game sooner than expected due to a sprained ankle.
Dominating inside
That was exploited by Youssoupha Fall and Mbaye Ndiaye, who combined for 24 rebounds, 7 of them on the offensive end, to set the foundations for ASVEL’s dominance. Fall finished with a monster double-double of 16 points and 13 boards, which is his second double-double in a row and his fourth so far this season. He became an unstoppable force inside and an invaluable asset for his team when it needed to control the pace of the game.
“It's a good win for us,” Fall championed. “It's good for the mentality because this is being really tough for us, you know. We are all happy, we are happy to get this win, as Bayern is usually a really strong team, especially at home. Defensively, we were more focused and this made the difference.”
ASVEL was also without some important players, too, such as Nando De Colo, Charles Kahudi and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, which made for a tough situation with ASVEL’s backcourt rotation. But another player who stepped forward and contributed to ASVEL’s consistency was Paris Lee, who played 34:24 minutes and posted 21 points and 4 assists to lead his team in scoring.
“Mostly I'm happy for my coach,” he commented. “It's been a tough situation here and for him to step up and lead us the way he's leading us, I give a big congrats to him and a congrats to my team. We played really hard today. [What we can take from this one is] just play freely. We’ve got nothing to lose, to be honest. We're trying to build our chemistry. So just keep getting better and just try to get a winning mentality.”