After the hard-fought success in Bonn, Andrea Trinchieri was primarily pleased with the result.
“I would like to congratulate my players on a dirty win,” said the Bayern coach with relief. With a 82:81 (49:44) win at the Telekom Baskets, Munich are leading 2:0 in the play-off semifinals of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and now have three match points.
“We didn’t shine, our performance wasn’t good,” said Trinchieri, “but we did the things that were required to win a very difficult away game.” The Italian explained that his team was “mentally exhausted”, “so we allowed too much”.
Othello Hunter secured the win with a free throw three seconds before the end of the game. In the first semi-final home game on Saturday (6 p.m./Sport1 and MagentaSport), Munich can already make the final perfect. Bayern won the first duel last Saturday 80-68.
“Of course we’re in a very difficult situation now,” said Bonn’s head coach Tuomas Iisalo. The Finn was annoyed: “It’s very, very bitter. We had a small chance and missed it in this game.”
Trinchieri praised the Bonners that the opponent played “great”: “We’re going home, have a few days to regenerate and prepare. It won’t be easy, because this is a good team.”
Among the Munich team, who only hit 22 percent of their three-point attempts, Nick Weiler-Babb stood out with 18 points and Andreas Obst with 17 points. Bonn’s best pitchers were Jeremy Morgan (17) and Javontae Hawkins (16).