“Ghost game” in Belgrade, but the FC Bayern basketball players cannot use this small advantage against Maccabi Tel Aviv. This puts the season goal of reaching the EuroLeague play-offs in jeopardy early in the season.
Maccabi Tel Aviv is currently unable to play any games in its war-torn homeland. In the EuroLeague they therefore moved to Belgrade to host FC Bayern Basketball. Even without the support of their own fans, the top Israeli club won the game 93:90 (46:44) in front of empty stands. For Munich it was already the fifth defeat in the seventh EuroLeague game.
Maccabi pulls away in the second quarter
The first quarter went really well for the Munich team, who won the first period 19:17. But Maccabi got better and better into the game after that and had the better actions both defensively and offensively. Only when Tel Aviv threatened to pull away (46:38) did Bayern come back shortly before the break.
But the two-point deficit did not remain at halftime (44:46). Maccabi turned things up in the third quarter and punished the visitors’ many easy ball losses. Led by Bonzie Colson – ultimately his team’s best scorer with 19 points – Maccabi pulled away and the Israelis went into the final quarter with a 71:62 lead.
23 turnovers cost Munich a possible victory
Head coach Pablo Laso’s team caught themselves in this, got within 82:83 and seemed to have the momentum on their side. But two easy turnovers by Leandro Bolmaro brought Maccabi back. In the end, due to a total of 23 turnovers, it wasn’t enough to achieve the third win of the season in the EuroLeague.
With the fourth defeat in this competition in a row, FC Bayern continues to lose ground on the play-off places that they had set as their goal before the season. With 17 points, Carsen Edwards was Munich’s best scorer, and Serge Ibaka (16), Bolmaro (12) and Devin Booker (11) also scored in double figures.
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Source: BR24Sport on the radio November 9th, 2023 – 9:55 p.m
