There are, let’s not exaggerate with this formulation, two worlds in which the basketball players at FC Bayern Munich have been moving week after week since the start of the season last fall. In one world, the Euroleague, they compete with the best clubs in Europe – and this season they are once again reaching their limits in terms of sporting returns. In the other world, the Bundesliga, they hosted eleventh-placed Löwen Braunschweig on Sunday afternoon. It was a short summer walk that Bayern took against Lower Saxony with outside temperatures of almost 30 degrees. They won the game 91:61 (44:31) in front of around 5,000 spectators; some fans apparently enjoyed a hike on the Isar or a visit to an ice cream parlor.
With the success they consolidated their first place in the table. Sylvain Francisco (19 points) and Leandro Bolmaro (11) had their mark on the Munich game, and Bayern were already leading 44:31 at halftime. It was a loose throw-in for the playoffs, which begin on May 18th and up to which there are likely to be a few more such games for the Munich team: a mixture of preparation for the crucial weeks of the season and avoiding a loss of tension. You didn’t really notice that the Lower Saxony team were still fighting for the playins; their game turned out to be too harmless. It was their fifth defeat in a row. This is the world in which Bayern are the rulers, in which they dominate their duels almost at will.
Just a few hours before their own game, Bayern’s exit from the Euroleague is certain
The other world is now closing its doors for the German cup winners. On Friday, his last theoretical hopes of advancing in the Euroleague had vanished into thin air – even before the evening game against Panathinaikos Athens, which the Munich team narrowly lost 75:82 (36:40). A few hours earlier, Anadolu Efes Istanbul, in tenth place in the last place eligible for the Playins, had beaten Fenerbahce 82:80 (32:36) in the city derby and thus left Bayern unassailably distant.
A good performance against Athens for a long time, in which they were on par with the clearly favored second-placed team well into the fourth quarter, equalized after the break to 44:44 and even led 65:63, did not help Bayern to win To maintain the chance of moving forward. Next Thursday, the Euroleague season will end for the Munich team in Monaco, in which they missed far too many chances for a better placement. That was also the case against Athens, in a game that the convincing Nick Weiler-Babb (15 points), Serge Ibaka (14 points, 7 rebounds), Leandro Bolmaro (11 points, 7 assists) and their colleagues could have – would have won she met better at the end.
“There are a lot of if-thens in a season, that’s often how it was with us,” said coach Pablo Laso after the Athens game: “In the end we weren’t hands-on enough – like today. There were situations after which we froze are.” The game against Athens was a reflection of this, “regardless of the fact that we have a lot of boys who are playing the Euroleague for the first time. We sometimes suffered from that.”
The lack of experience, some bad luck with injuries that not only affected Andreas Obst and Devin Booker, who were rested in both games at the weekend, but also captain Vladimir Lucic, who only returned to the squad late after his hand surgery. All of these may be reasons for missing the playoffs for the second time in a row after two quarter-final appearances in 2021 and 2022. National player Niels Giffey saw another deficiency: “Consistency would have been good for us over the season, finding a consistent style of play – we didn’t have that sometimes.”
Applause out: Leandro Bolmaro (in a duel with Athens’ Jerian Grant) played well on Friday evening, Bayern impressed for long stretches. However, they were unable to prevent the final exit from the Euroleague.
(Photo: Christian Kolbert/kolbert-press/Imago)
At least they found their style of play again on Sunday in the Bundesliga against Braunschweig and stayed focused throughout the game. However, in a world that does not present many challenges for the people of Munich. This could also become a problem for Bayern in the next few weeks, when the club will no longer be able to get the competitive edge out of Euroleague games.