The Chemnitz basketball fans had chosen a wonderful weekend for their trip to Munich, in any case the beer garden weather was wonderful, even on a mild Sunday evening. They painted “Austrinker Chemnitz” on a poster, which went perfectly with this summer weekend in mid-May. They still had enough energy to bang their drums during their Niners’ second playoff quarterfinal game in the Audi Dome against host FC Bayern Munich.
But on the floor, Munich clearly set the tone in front of only 3342 spectators. After their sovereign 77:53 opening win against Chemnitz on Friday, they went into their second game of the best-of-five series against their feared opponent (previously three defeats of the season, no win) with some reassurance – and used Sunday’s comparison for the next exclamation mark . With 93:76 points they duped the club from the Free State of Saxony, at the break it was already 49:26 for the team of coach Andrea Trinchieri, who had returned to the sidelines after an upset stomach. Bayern are now 2-0 ahead of the two away games in Chemnitz next Friday and Sunday, and the door to the playoff semi-finals has now been thrown wide open.
Vladimir Lucic scored ten points in the first quarter
The game started with a three-pointer from Munich’s US import Deshaun Thomas, but a short time later after a turnover from Chemnitz with a block against Bayern captain Nihad Djedovic under the visitors’ basket. It was one of the very few scenes in which the outsider could really annoy Bayern. Trinchieri’s team used their chances for long stretches of the game, as did Vladimir Lucic, who scored a wonderful three-pointer at the last second in the first quarter to take a 27-13 lead. Ten points had already gone to his account.
On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly clear how much Chemnitz is missing their center Darion Atkins, who is suspended for three games due to an unsportsmanlike foul in the last main round game – now against Bayern of all places. At the same time, they seemed unimpressed by the amount of work they had to do in the last six weeks. 13 games in April, and seven in May, including the exhausting and mentally draining games against FC Barcelona, to which the Munich team only lost in the decisive fifth duel in the Euroleague quarter-finals: this program leaves no team unscathed. In addition, not only Darrun Hilliard and Corey Walden were missing against Chemnitz due to injuries, but also another important US professional from the regular formation in Othello Hunter (muscle problems) since Friday.
The Munich team are countering this misery these days with concentrated appearances on offense and defense, on Sunday Deshaun Thomas, the top scorer of the game with 22 points, was convincing again ahead of Lucic (17 points). In the third quarter, Trinchieri’s team almost kept their comfortable lead, only the last quarter may have hit the Italian’s stomach again – he wailed and gesticulated when Chemnitz got closer and closer due to FC Bayern’s lack of concentration. But not close enough to equalize.