After a year away from the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, two-time champion head coach Pablo Laso returned to guide his new team, FC Bayern Munich, to a comeback opening-game victory.
In his EuroLeague return, Laso flipped Bayern's script at halftime
Article
3 Mins read
The news made major headlines in the summer and carried into the preseason: Pablo Laso would be returning to the sidelines and coaching at FC Bayern Munich.
Sure enough, on Thursday, the two-time Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion worked his magic in leading Bayern to a season-opening victory.
Laso used his experience to settle down his new team at halftime and Bayern locked up an 80-68 win over national rival ALBA Berlin to start the season.
"We played a very solid second half. The third quarter was very good. We stayed focused and didn't make a lot of mistakes," Laso said of his first EuroLeague game with Bayern. "Happy for the victory. This is just the start of it."
The southern German side trailed by 11 points late in the first half and was down by 8 points at halftime. The 55-year-old playcaller utilized nearly the entire 15-minute intermission to talk to his team.
"I told the guys it's impossible to win if you give the ball to the other team. We had stupid turnovers and they were hurting us. The third quarter we controlled that and played much better," said Laso, who guided Real Madrid to the 2015 and 2018 EuroLeague titles.
"The EuroLeague is exciting – every game. That's why every game matters… Being one year out of it, you have that feeling that you have been missing something."
Bayern reacted by holding ALBA to just 24 points in the second half.
"What I tried to communicate is to play normal," Laso explained. "I don't think we played a great second half, but we were solid. We didn't turn the ball over, we were rebounding, we were contesting shots, we were passing the ball around. That was the difference between the first and second half."
Bayern's French guard Sylvain Francisco said Laso told the team at halftime to increase the aggressiveness.
"The coach was on us at halftime and he said we have to push the tempo and really be more aggressive on defense," said Francisco, who scored 17 points to pace Bayern.
Laso was quite excited about his first EuroLeague game for Bayern, which came after he sat out the 2022-23 season following 11 seasons at the helm of Real.
"The EuroLeague is exciting – every game. That's why every game matters," Laso said. "Being one year out of it, you have that feeling that you have been missing something. But at the same time you are excited. You are excited because you are with a new team, new faces. And you always have a challenge in front of you."