2018-19Regular SeasonRound 28
March 21, 2019 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 AUDI DOME

Koponen's game-winner keeps Bayern alive

In an intense battle that came down to the final shot, FC Bayern Munich stayed in the fight to reach the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs by edging FC Barcelona Lassa 73-71 at Audi Dome on Thursday. Petteri Koponen became the game hero by hitting the game-winning shot at the buzzer and lifting Bayern's record to 13-15 – and one win outside the playoff zone. Barcelona, which had qualified for the playoffs on Wednesday, slipped to 16-12, but remained fifth overall. Koponen and Devin Booker led the winners with 14 points apiece, Derrick Williams added 11 and Stefan Jovic had 10 for Bayern. Ante Tomic and Thomas Heurtel paced Barcelona with 13 points apiece, Chris Singleton added 12 and Pau Ribas and Jaka Blazic each scored 10 for the visitors. Chris Singleton and Pau Ribas shined early to put Barcelona ahead, 18-19, after 10 minutes. Singleton kept pacing Barcelona and got help from Jaka Blazic to boost the visitors' lead to 32-36 at halftime. Barcelona led by 49-56 at the end of the third quarter and then again to 51-63 with 7 minutes left. A 14-0 run that Koponen capped with a triple gave Bayern a 65-63 lead. The game turned into a thriller when free throws by Heurtel and Blazic tied the game at 71-71 with 6 seconds left. Bayern had no timeouts, but Koponen brought the ball up, stopped and hit a mid-range jumper at the buzzer.

Ribas got Barcelona going with a triple and a jump hook by Tomic gave the visitors a 0-5 lead. Jovic struck from downtown and Danilo Barthel followed a layup with a triple to gave Bayern its first lead, 8-7. Singleton joined the three-point shootout, igniting a 0-7 run that Ribas capped with a fastbreak layup. Jovic scored in penetration and Booker sank a three-pointer, but Singleton and Heurtel kept Barcelona in charge, 14-19. A jumper by Booker and a layup off a steal by Maodo Lo brought Bayern within 18-19 after 10 minutes. A layup by Williams put Bayern ahead 20-19 early in the second quarter. Heurtel struck twice from beyond the arc and fed Pierre Oriola for a three-point play, prompting the hosts to call timeout at 21-28. Bayern found answers on offense through Barthel and Vladimir Lucic, who fueled a 7-0 run that tied it at 28-28. Tomic rescued Barcelona with 4 quick points, Blazic scored in penetration and a fastbreak layup by Singleton boosted Barcelona's lead to 32-36 at halftime. Kevin Pangos downed a three-pointer soon after the break and a dunk by Tomic gave the visitors a 32-41 margin. Singleton capped an 0-11 run with a driving layup, as Williams stepped up with a big dunk. Booker and Koponen combined for all the points in an 8-0 run, which brought Bayern within 42-45. Ribas and Victor Claver each hit one from beyond the arc, allowing Barcelona to restore a double-digit lead, 42-52. Koponen and Williams brought Bayern a bit closer, 49-56, after 30 minutes. Blazic and Singleton took over early in the fourth quarter and a three-pointer by Heurtel boosted the lead to 51-63 with 7 minutes left. Jovic answered from downtown and a dunk by Leon Radosevic gave Bayern hope at 56-63. Koponen sank a jumper and Williams dunked to make it a 1-point game. Koponen capped a 14-0 run with a three-pointer that completed the hosts' comeback at 65-63 with 3 minutes left. Claver took over with back-to-back layups and a close basket by Booker tied it to 67-67 with 1:19 remaining. Heurtel missed a floater and a three-pointer by Lucic restored a 70-67 Bayern edge with 10.6 seconds to go. Heurtel hit free throws, Nihad Dedovic split attempts and Blazic tied the game from the foul line, 71-71. Koponen found time to race downcourt and bury the game-winning jumper at the buzzer.

Key performer

Koponen not only hit the game-winning shot, but stepped up when Bayern needed him most, down by 12 points in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 14 points, all in the final 15 minutes, on 3-of-4 two-point shooting, 2-of-3 from downtown and 2-of-2 free throws. He added 3 rebounds and an assist for a performance index rating of 18.

Game-changing moment

Barcelona led 51-63 and seemed to have full control of the game, but Bayern improved its defense and found a go-to guy in Jovic, who joined forces with Williams and Koponen in a 14-0 run that brought the hosts back to the game, 65-63. Bayern ended up winning it at the buzzer, but wouldn't have reached that point without those 4 minutes of total inspiration.

Stellar stat

Bayern pulled down 11 offensive rebounds and limited Barcelona to just 5. Both teams had the same number of turnovers (11) and similar shooting percentages, but those 6 extra possessions had a lot of impact on the final outcome.

Did you notice?

It was Bayern's first-ever win against Barcelona after three consecutive losses - two of them in the 2014-15 season and another one in October, 83-73.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action next week. Barcelona hosts Buducnost VOLI Podgorica on Thursday. A day later, Bayern visits Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul.

Petteri Koponen - FC Bayern Munich - EB18
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: RYZHYK, BORYS; JAVOR, DAMIR; VOJINOVIC, MILIJA
Attendance: 5151
By Quarter1234
FC Bayern Munich18141724
FC Barcelona Lassa19172015
End of Quarter1234
FC Bayern Munich18324973
FC Barcelona Lassa19365671
FC Bayern Munich
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 DANGUBIC, NEMANJA 14:45   0/1 0/3         2         1 1 -2
3 HOBBS, BRAYDON DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 KOPONEN, PETTERI 25:40 14 3/4 2/3 2/2   3 3 1           2 18
10 RADOSEVIC, LEON 9:15 4 2/4     1 1 2     2     3   -1
11 LUCIC, VLADIMIR 28:57 7 1/4 1/5 2/2   5 5 6 1       2 1 11
12 LO, MAODO 18:33 2 1/1 0/1     2 2 2 2 2     4 2 3
14 DEDOVIC, NIHAD 16:32 1 0/2 0/2 1/2 2 4 6 4   2     1 2 5
15 AMAIZE, ROBIN 2:50 1   0/1 1/2 1   1             1 1
16 JOVIC, STEFAN 21:31 10 2/4 2/2   1 3 4 4 1 1     2 1 15
22 BARTHEL, DANILO 18:46 9 2/3 1/3 2/4   4 4     2     1 2 7
23 WILLIAMS, DERRICK 22:55 11 4/8 0/3 3/4 3 2 5 1   2   2 3 2 4
31 BOOKER, DEVIN 20:16 14 3/6 2/3 2/3 1 1 2 3 1   1   2 4 18
Team           2 2 4     2         2
Totals 200:00 73 18/37 8/26 13/19 11 27 38 23 5 13 1 2 19 18 81
        48.6% 30.8% 68.4%
Head coach: RADONJIC, DEJAN
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
FC Barcelona Lassa
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 PANGOS, KEVIN 19:16 3 0/2 1/5     1 1 3 1 1     2 2 1
5 RIBAS, PAU 23:00 10 2/3 2/7     3 3 4 1       2   10
6 SINGLETON, CHRIS 30:17 12 3/4 2/4     6 6           2 3 16
9 BLAZIC, JAKA 16:24 10 2/3 0/1 6/6   3 3 1         1 3 14
10 SMITS, ROLANDS 9:43   0/1 0/1     3 3           2   -1
13 HEURTEL, THOMAS 20:44 13 1/2 3/4 2/2   2 2 1   4     2 3 11
14 PUSTOVYI, ARTEM 4:44   0/1       1 1 1     1       2
18 ORIOLA, PIERRE 10:45 3 1/1 0/2 1/1 1   1     2     4 1 -3
24 KURIC, KYLE 17:00   0/1 0/3     2 2 1 1         1 1
30 CLAVER, VICTOR 23:37 7 2/3 1/3 0/1 2 3 5 1 3 2   1 4 1 6
44 TOMIC, ANTE 24:30 13 4/6   5/6 1 5 6 5 1 2 1   1 5 25
Team           1   1     1          
Totals 200:00 71 15/27 9/30 14/16 5 29 34 17 7 12 2 1 20 19 82
        55.6% 30% 87.5%
Head coach: PESIC, SVETISLAV

Head Coaches

RADONJIC, DEJAN
FC Bayern Munich
"Before the game, I talked about what could be our goal for tonight - to play a better game than in Greece, to improve some parts and play better, offensively and defensively. For us, it was an important game for our confidence. At the end of the first half, we missed three dunk attempts and a few open looks. We controlled the rebounds, which was most important for us. We had a problem with that in several games in the last weeks. Before the game, it was one of the most important things we had to do: control the rebounds. It was 18-19 after the first quarter; they controlled the game in the first quarter and it was difficult, but we continued to play and did well in box-out situations. For the first time in many games, we were better than them in rebounds, 38-34 and 11 offensive rebounds. We made some important shots in the fourth quarter and the game was interesting. We won with the last shot by Koponen. Not only he hit that shot, he was very good during the game and took responsibilities tonight. It was a big win for us, thank you to our fans for the huge support."
PESIC, SVETISLAV
FC Barcelona Lassa
"I think we controlled the game all the time but in the end, Bayern deserved the victory. Bayern deserved to win tonight because I have the feeling that we were sure that we would bring the game in the end and finish this story. This is the reason; we didn't have good concentration, especially on defense against Koponen, a player who is a scorer. He scored 7 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. Not only he hit the last shot, but he was scoring before. He found open shots and we didn't defend Koponen. We forgot about him and he was alone to hit open shots. On offense, we didn't make good decisions and if the opponent, like Bayern tonight, scores 24 points in the last quarter, and no more than 20 in any of the previous quarters, then it is very difficult to finish the game the way we want."

Players

KOPONEN, PETTERI
FC Bayern Munich
"I think we fought all game, 40 minutes. We gave the effort and played good defense. We knew we played a little bit bad in the last few weeks and we wanted to show that we are a different team. We did that tonight and you know, a win is a win, we take it. I was happy that I scored tonight the game-winning basket. Some other days is someone else, but tonight, it was me and it feels good. It is a good feeling; I spent two years there [in Barcelona] and know a lot of people from there. Of course, it was a special game, also for me. I had a difficult first half, I think I only took one shot, but in the second half, Coach let me play more and I was a little bit lucky tonight in the end and made the shot."
TOMIC, ANTE
FC Barcelona Lassa
"We had a 10-point or 11-point lead three times during the game and, simply put, we cannot allow losing games like this. In all these moments, we made mistakes which cannot be explained - a bad offense, a technical foul, I don't know. In the end, when you lose a game on a buzzer-beating shot, it always hurts more. We have two more games left and have to win both of them to finish fifth, this is our goal. After two seasons, it gives us credit to be in the playoffs. We proved that we are up there with the best four-six teams in Europe. We still have a lot of games to be played and have to find better shape before we enter the final months of the season."
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