By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
TJ Shorts missed with seven seconds left and Paris lost the chance for a big road win. On the contrary, Bayern Munich despite not closing the game the right way, managed to prevail.
The final score was 109-107 after Johannes Voightman made a free throw when the game was already decided, and the Germans survived a big scare.
Carsen Edward with 32 points and Shabazz Napier with 27 created a fabulous backcourt duo, while big man Devin Booker added 21 points.
On the other hand, Shorts had 22 points and nine assists, Tyson Ward scored 18, and Nadir Hifi scored 16, but these were not enough to steal the game. The French are down to 1-3 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings, while Bayern has a respectable 2-2.
“It was hard for us, we tried to stop Edward, Napier, and Booker but in the end, you have to give them your hand, we simply couldn’t get stops”, said Paris coach Tiago Splitter.
Both teams were missing key players, Vladimir Lucic from the home side and Maodo Lo for Paris. “We had some problems and Edwards played the whole second half”, added Bayern coach Gordon Herbert.
A close chase
Paris led at the start of the game (13-11) and tied the score once (68-68) in the third, but Bayern despite leading by 10 (33-23) couldn’t create any safe distance from the hosts.
The French side trailed by three (23-21) at the end of the first quarter, by seven (54-47) at halftime and again by three (81-78) entering the fourth period.
Bayern managed to get an eight-point cushion (101-93) after a three by Edwards with less than three minutes on the clock, Napier hit another big three with 55 seconds left to make the score 106-101 for the Germans, but Paris was trailing by one point (108-107) after a three by Hifi with 12 seconds left, completing a 14-7 partial score.
Ward stole the ball from Napier, TJ Shorts had the chance to give the lead to Paris but he missed and the game was practically over.
Photo credit: EuroLeague