By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi Tel Aviv star guard Lorenzo Brown hadn’t played a EuroLeague game since January 19 when he got injured vs. ALBA Berlin. His comeback in the competition in front of the Yellows’ faithful featured one of his top performances this season.
Brown scored 17 out of his game-high 27 points in the last 13 minutes while also posting six assists and four rebounds to lead Maccabi past Bayern Munich 90 -82 after a comeback from down 11 in the second half. The Israeli side, now 10-2 at home, improved to 13-12 while Bayern dropped to 9-16.
“[Coming back like this] feels amazing,” Brown said. “The most important thing is that we got the win. It was a great game on both ends. They made us work, and we have to appreciate that. We stepped up defensively [in the second half]; our main goal was to try to stop their main guys. They hit some though shots towards the end; sometimes it happens. But we got the win which is the most important.”
Wade Baldwin contributed a superb diverse output of 15 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three blocks to help Maccabi get the win despite several problems on the glass. Bayern collected 19 offensive rebounds and registered 22 second-chance points to lead from the beginning of the second period through the start of the fourth quarter.
After Brown hit back-to-back triples to lift Maccabi after trailing 39-50, his teammates joined him for a 9-0 run that put the hosts up 68-67 after a bucket by Bonzie Colson (15 points, eight rebounds). After some lead changes, Brown scored seven points over three minutes as his team went up 85 – 79 with 2:13 to play. Bayern, lost its connection to the basket and its opponents retained their advantage.
Corey Walden led Bayern with 19 points plus four assists and Andreas Obst scored 14. “We didn’t stop Lorenzo Brown in the last quarter,” coach Andrea Trinchieri mentioned. “That was the thing. We were ahead for three quarters and a half, and then Lorenzo Brown makes some tough shots, while we made mistakes on defense.”