By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Pablo Laso is back in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague alongside Serge Ibaka.
FC Bayern Munich dominated the second half and picked up the 80-68 victory over ALBA Berlin in BMW Park on Thursday.
“We played a very solid second half. The third quarter was very good. We did not make mistakes and stayed focused defensively,” Laso recapped the win in his first EuroLeague appearance following the sabbatical in 2022-23.
“I told my players it would be impossible to win if we keep giving them the ball,” the experienced tactician described the discussions during halftime, referring to Bayern’s eight turnovers in the first half.
Playing in Europe’s premier club continental competition for the first time since 2011, Ibaka went for eight points, nine rebounds, and two blocks over 17 minutes. His presence in defense was a huge part of shifting the momentum after the break.
The promising pairing of Francisco with Bolmaro
In his EuroLeague debut, Sylvain Francisco scored ten points in the first quarter. Ending up with a game-high 17 points with 6/11 field goals fueled yet another game-high, an efficiency rating of 20. “I did not expect that, scoring 17 points. But I am really happy. There is more to go,” he mentioned.
Backcourt partner Leandro Bolmaro registered ten points, five rebounds, and three assists. “I think they are a great couple. Why? Because they are different. I think Bolmaro ran the team very well and Francisco was executing,” said Laso.
“It was a slow start. But in the second half, we played our game,” said Isaac Bonga after chipping in a double-double of 11 points and ten rebounds in Regular Season Round 1.
Team captain Vladimir Lucic (hand) and Niels Giffey (illness) were both sidelined, and Elias Harris was among the healthy scratches.
ALBA Berlin’s issues
On the losing end, Johannes Thiemann and Louis Olinde shared a team-high 12 points among the 11 players suiting up for head coach Israel Gonzalez. Adding to Marcus Eriksson (foot) and Yanni Wetzell (ankle), Elias Rapieque (hand) will miss the next six weeks, Christ Koumadje (knee) remained on the injury list, and Tim Schneider (eye) was ruled out as well.
“We knew it would be very difficult due to the problems we had with our bigs,” pointed out Gonzalez commenting on the 49-17 rebound deficit, “I am very happy with the players’ effort.”
BBL and EuroLeague
Switching to Germany’s easyCredit BBL, the Berlin outfit will visit defending champion ratiopharm Ulm hoping to go up to 3-0 on Saturday and the Munich team will play host to Veolia Towers Hamburg hoping to improve to 2-1 on Sunday. Round 2 of the EuroLeague features ALBA at home against Baskonia and Bayern on the road against Panathinaikos on Thursday.
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net