By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The trio of Brandon Davies, Dante Exum, and Nikola Mirotic proved to be too much for feisty Bayern Munich.
Barcelona got the 77-67 win and the 1-0 lead in their Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs series against the Bavarian underdogs.
Davies scored 19 points, Exum and Mirotic added 12 each and the Australian guard also added an amazing fourth-quarter dunk.
Bayern on the other hand was in the game until the middle of the last period but missed the firepower needed for an upset. “At the end of the day they deserved to win”, admitted Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri.
After a close first half which ended with the guests leading by two (22-20), Barcelona got things on track. Thanks to a three by Nicolas Laprovittola, the hosts build a 43-33 lead before halftime.
Bayern didn’t give up, The Germans cut the lead to three in the third quarter (52-49), however by the end of the period Barcelona was up by 11 (62-51). After a three by Rolands Smits, the Catalans led by 14 (65-51) at the start of the fourth quarter.
“To tell you the truth I am very proud of my team, we came back, we fought and we had also a very bad injury, very severe, of Darrun Hilliard, that shows how physical was the game”, added Trinchieri clarifying that his player suffered a clavicle fracture on his shoulder.
Bayern once more tried to mount a comeback and cut the lead to four twice (67-62, 69-64) behind 20 points by Vladimir Lucic and once more Barcelona reacted firmly. A quick 6-0 run made the score 75-64 and there was no coming back for the Germans after that.
“It was a game exactly the way you would expect it to be”, said Barcelona coach Sarunas Jasikevicius. “I was hoping that our team would come out very serious, play very serious basketball and I thought we did. We were physical like Bayern and when we lost our focus, Bayern took advantage of it. It was good that we found solutions and a lot of our players contributed. Going forward, we have to improve, or it’s going to be very difficult”.
Saras also thanked the fans for their help: “I think we have great fans and they proved it. When you are playing bad, they have to help you more and that’s what they did”.