FC Bayern Munich won just its second road game of the season
Bayern shuts down Hapoel offense for fifth win in seven games
Izveštaji utakmica
3 Min čitanja
Regular Season
Round 25 of 38
Regular Season
Hapoel IBI Tel AvivHTA
6479
FC Bayern MunichBAY
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FC Bayern Munich is making a push towards postseason contention thanks to a strong defensive effort, which shut down Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv’s offense and supplied a rare road victory.
Bayern gave up only 38 points in the final three quarters of a strong 64-79 win in Israel to improve to 10-15, including 2-10 on the road.
"We knew how talented they were. We came here with a shorter rotation and ready to compete. It’s a big win for us,” said Bayern’s captain Vladimir Lucic, who tallied 11 points and 6 rebounds.
Isiaha Mike paced Bayern with 16 points, while Andreas Obst had 13 points and Neno Dimitrijevic chipped in 11 points.
“We just focused on the defense, the rebounds and taking care of the ball. Shots were falling today. We had really, really good defense. I have to credit the team for the defense today,” said Mike.
The 64 points were 23.4 fewer than Hapoel’s average of 87.4 points coming into the game and Bayern held the league’s second-best two-point shooting offense (59.1%) to 54.1% and the fifth-best long-range shooters (37.2%) to just 16.7%.
“To win here, we must play perfect and find the balance between defense and offense. The defense which we demonstrated tonight gave us additional confidence on offense. We are a team who if we play defense - with aggressive denial and good pick-and-roll defense - then we can find solutions for offense,” said Bayern’s head coach Svetislav Pesic.
The veteran playcaller’s first game back at the helm with Bayern was against Hapoel at home in Round 18, when it lost 72-82. But the German champion has responded to Pesic with five wins in the last seven games.
“We have been in the gym a lot, working out and having meetings about where we are making mistakes and finding some things,” Lucic said about the changes that have taken place since Pesic was hired. “We grouped together and decided to fight and be aggressive.”
Pesic said the turning point was the win over Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv in Round 19 to start the winning ways.
“That win gave us additional confidence and, of course, helped me. If you win some games then the players believe in the coach and the concepts of the coach. If you lose games, that is the problem,” he said. “We are in a good way but we will see.”
Hapoel allowed the first points of the game but led the rest of the first quarter, being up by 6 points four times before the opening stanza ended with the hosts up 26-23. Dan Oturu tallied all 10 of his points in the first quarter.
Bayern conceded only one basket in the first 7 minutes of the second quarter and pulled ahead 28-30. Hapoel responded with the next 9 points for its biggest lead at 37-30, only to have Bayern score the final 11 points of the first half for a 39-43 advantage at the break.
Bayern’s defense shined in the third quarter, keeping the hosts scoreless for more than 6 minutes in a 0-12 run to lead 41-55. The cushion swelled to 15 points at 44-59 and Bayern went into the final frame up 50-61.
Justinian Jessup netted 6 points in a 2-10 surge that gave Bayern a 54-73 lead with only 5 minutes to play and Hapoel’s will was beaten.
The defeat dropped Hapoel to 16-8 with back-to-back losses and falling to second place, handing over the top spot to Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. Vasilije Micic led the hosts with 13 points and 5 assists.
Head coach Dimitris Itoudis talked after the game that his team is still unified despite its recent struggles.
“I have been called here to create a team that can win. And evidently the team is in the target that we have set from the summer. We have this bad period, but we are not divided. There is no division in the team as some of them think or they want to be. There is no division, there is one team. Those are the things that we are addressing among us and we will continue to fight for what our purpose is,” the coach said.
