The German sharpshooter drilled two decisive threes in the final minute as Bayern improves to 3–2 under Coach Pesic
Andreas Obst’s clutch threes lift Bayern over Panathinaikos
Rapport de match
3 Minute de lecture
Regular Season
Round 22 of 38
Regular Season
FC Bayern MunichBAY
8578
Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensPAO
Overview
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FC Bayern Munich still has a long way to go to be considered a challenger for a spot in the Play-In Showdown, but the German powerhouse was satisfied with its complete victory over Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens for a third straight home win.
Andreas Obst delivered the knockout punch with two three-pointers in the final 62 seconds as Bayern won 85-78 and improved to 8-14, including 7-4 at home. Bayern is now 3-2 under new head coach Svetislav Pesic.
“For us, it was very important to try to keep it a close game. After that, you have the chance. From our side, we played an excellent game throughout. We showed a high-level game from both sides,” said Pesic, who also praised the atmosphere at the sold-out SAP Garden.
“For the first time since I am here as coach, I feel that we are together with our fans. This is very important for us to bring this atmosphere, which helps our players a lot. We feel comfortable because we are in our house.”
Justinian Jessup tallied 16 points to pace Bayern, Obst finished with 15 points and Wenyen Gabriel added 12 points.
Pesic was impressed once again with Obst, who only took 8 shots after just two games earlier hitting 7 three-pointers in scoring 37 points against Kosner Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.
“Andi showed a really different quality today. They really defended him tough the whole game. But what’s important for a player at this level, he showed patience, he played for the others. He didn’t want to force things. And he helped us and because of that others were able to step up like JJ (Jessup),” Pesic said.
Panathinaikos opened the first big lead with Cedi Osman hitting 2 triples in a 0-11 surge for a 29-38 cushion. The score was 40-43 at the break and Bayern got within 47-49 midway through the third quarter. The Greens knocked down 4 triples the rest of the period and were up 58-64 going into the final frame.
Bayern did not allow a Panathinaikos basket in the first 4 minutes of the fourth and nosed ahead 67-66 before triples from Neno Dimitrijevic and Jessup made it 73-70.
Obst took command of the offense down the stretch, hitting a layup high off the backboard to make it 77-74 and then draining a triple at the top of the key over Richaun Holmes for an 82-76 cushion. Obst finished the scoring with a long three from the left side with 33 seconds to go for the final 85-78 scoreline.
“In the end, you want to put the ball in the hands of your best scorer and we did that,” Pesic said. “The idea was for him to start the offense with the ball in his hands and then get the ball back and create - either his shot or attack for a layup. He waited for his chances. We play for him, we believe in him - not just the coaches but also the players.”
Jessup was happy about the team’s determination.
“In the last couple of minutes, we got some big stops and obviously Andi hit some huge shots. I’m really happy with the way that we stuck with it. We were down 6 points in the fourth quarter, but we kept getting stops, fighting and rebounding,” said Jessup.
And Gabriel added: “This is one of the first times where we put in a full game. We put in a lot of preparation, a lot of work for this one. It’s good to see it pay off. We’ve given up a lot of turnovers and offensive rebounds. We made an emphasis on trying to get better and focus on ourselves. And I think it was good to reward ourselves with this win today.”
Bayern’s happiness about the victory – its first over Panathinaikos after six straight losses dating back to January 5, 2023 - was not without some concern. Both Stefan Jovic and Dimitrijevic banged their heads against the floor as they fell in the fourth quarter. Jovic went to the locker room immediately.
Panathinaikos, meanwhile, has dropped three of the last four games for a 13-9 record. Osman led the way with 20 points and Jerian Grant had 17 points while Kostas Sloukas dished out 5 assists to become just the second player to reach the 2,000-assist mark in EuroLeague history along with Nick Calathes.
“We played good for the first three quarters - we shared the ball and played good defense. But the last quarter on offense, we stared to miss everything and defensively, starting with Dimitrijevic, then Jessup and finally Obst scored and we lost the game,” said Panathinaikos head coach Ergin Ataman.
