By Antonis Stroggylakis / info@eurohoops.net
Bayern Munich coach Gordon Herbert went through his decision to use a quite tight rotation in the win over Olympiacos Piraeus despite a hectic upcoming schedule that includes four games through a period of eight days.
“They told me Carsen can play another 40 minutes after the game,” Herbert joked in the post-game presser. He was referring to his guard Carsen Edwards spending 35:57 on the floor. “Sure it’s a concern. We play one game to win. We had to go with a shorter rotation in the second half. We were a little bit longer in the third quarter with that group because they got momentum. They played well. So we stayed with it a little bit longer than we normally would.”
Edwards torched Olympiacos with 30 points, 24 of them in the second half when his team came back from down 32-43 at the break. He took over down the stretch with four straight points that put the hosts 72 – 71, hit the triple to give his team a 79 – 72 advantage with 3:11 remaining and drained the free throws for the 84 – 80 that all but secured the win with 11 seconds to play.
This was Edwards’ second straight 30-piece after putting up 32 points last week in the victory over Paris Basketball. He’s the EuroLeague leading scorer with 20.6 points five rounds into the regular season while Bayern is sitting at a 3-2 record.
“The 30 points say a lot,” Herbert commented. “He made some big shots to put us up. Obviously, he played superman minutes and made some big plays. He’s a microwave, so to speak, on the offensive end. The thing with him is that he’s improving his overall game step by step. He’s working hard, he’s listening, he’s coachable. He has a chance to be a hell of a basketball player.”
Edwards wasn’t the only member of the German team to spend an extended amount of time on the court since Nick Weiler-Babb registered 30:48, Devin Booker played 29:37 and Johannes Voigtmann was in the game for 28:11.
“Sunday it’s a different animal. Obviously, you look ahead, you got Sunday, Tuesday, Friday. We’ll wait and see what the situation is tomorrow,” Herbert added. His squad faces Wurzburg at home Sunday (29/12). The reigning German League champs will then play against Virtus Bologna on the road Tuesday and travel to France for the game at ASVEL Villeurbanne Friday before resuming domestic action at Braunschweig on Sunday (3/11).
In his opening statement, Herbert had emphasized how Bayern reacted after trailing 11 at halftime and how his team flipped the switch on the mentality department upon return from the locker room.
“We had a down period in the last minutes of the second quarter. The real key was the first 3-4 minutes of the third quarter,” Herbert mentioned. “We came out with an attitude to play harder. We were much more physical. We had some guys playing superman minutes. A short rotation. Obviously a great win in front of our home fans. The crowd was awesome. Our sixth man.”