By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Bayern Munich continues to impress like perhaps never before in the club’s EuroLeague history. This time, Andrea Trinchieri’s players came back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth period to beat Anadolu Efes 74 – 81 on the road in Round 9 and improve their record to 7 -2 thanks to their third straight win.
Wade Baldwin led the offense of Bayern with 15 points plus a career-high 11 assists and Jalen Reynolds dropped 10 out of his 14 points in the last seven minutes while putting his signature on the game-tying and go-ahead baskets.
Reynolds tied the game at 70 with a three-point play to cap a Bayern comeback frrom down 62 – 52 and then made the hook shot to put his team up 70 – 72 with a minute to play.
I struggled in the first half trying to get myself going, but I knew I had to pick it up in the second half and help my team,” Reynolds said. “The game is won in 40 minutes. You’re going to have your ups and your downs. You just have to stay together as a team and be able to execute down the stretch and make the right decisions and just be locked in.”
Shane Larkin went 1-2 from the line with 17 seconds remaining and on the other end, Reynolds dunked the ball. Vasilije Micic’s game-tying attempt went off target and Efes dropped to 4-4.
Tibor Pleiss scored a game-high 19 points, Larkin had 12 points plus seven assists and Micic finished with 12 points for Efes that was minus Bryant Dunston and Rodrigue Beaubois. The hosts were the ones who trailed in the first half until they got the lead early in the second half thanks to a series of triples and some powerful defense that helped them outmatch their opponents 20 -8 in the third period and enter the final quarter ahead 57 – 50.
A result of faith
For Andrea Trinchieri what mattered was that his players never stopped believing that they could escape Istanbul with the victory.
“That was a win just because we believed,” Trinchieri said. “We believed, we believed, we believed. Efes had a very good third quarter, half of the fourth quarter we were struggling. But as soon as their performance dropped a little bit we were there and we were ready to use the opportunity to win a huge game on the road. It’s a big win.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball