Baldwin leads Bayern to 18th win
FC Bayern Munich took another step towards its goal of reaching the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs by downing Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 76-71 at Audi Dome on Thursday. Bayern won its third straight game to improve to 18-10. It has registered six victories in its last seven games. Meanwhile, Panathinaikos dropped to 9-17 and is on a three-game losing streak. Wade Baldwin IV led the winners with 27 points and Vladimir Lucic added 14 for Bayern. Mario Hezonja paced Panathinaikos with 14 points and Georgios Papagiannis and Lefteris Bochoridis each had 10 for the Greens. With the game tied at 61-61, Lucic and an outstanding Baldwin made the difference down the stretch.
Hezonja got Panathinaikos going with a jumper and Papagiannis followed a layup with an alley-oop slam for a 2-6 lead. Jalen Reynolds and JaJuan Johnson rescued Bayern and then Baldwin followed a jumper with a three-point play for an 11-10 lead. Dinos Mitoglou hit a floater and Zach Auguste added a tip-in, but Leon Radosevic struck from downtown for a 14-14 tie. Bochoridis hit a triple and Auguste added a buzzer-beating dunk in a 0-7 run that gave the Greens a 14-21 lead after 10 minutes. Paul Zipser and Leonidas Kaselakis exchanged three-pointers early in the second quarter. James Gist banked in a close shot and followed Lucic's three-point play with a jumper to get Bayern within 24-29. Howard Sant-Ross scored in penetration, igniting a 0-6 run that Papagiannis capped with a turnaround jumper for a 24-35 Panathinaikos lead. Lucic struck from beyond the arc and fed Johnson for a layup. Zan Sisko and Reynolds each scored off a steal and Baldwin added a four-point play that pushed Bayern ahead, 37-36, at halftime.
Baldwin sank a three-pointer after the break and got help from Lucic and Zipser to boost the margin to 44-38. Lucic insisted from downtown, but Hezonja and Mitoglou brought Panathinaikos within 47-42. Baldwin followed a show-stopping dunk with a jumper for a 52-44 lead. Ben Bentil took over with a layup-plus-foul and Hezonja beat the shot clock with a triple in a 1-8 run that Auguste capped with a jump hook to make it 53-52. Gist and Baldwin restored a 57-55 Bayern lead after 30 minutes. Bochoridis shocked the hosts with an acrobatic three-point play early in the fourth quarter. Nick Weiler-Babb scored off an inbounds play and Reynolds hit a jump hook, but Papagiannis tied it at 61-61. Lucic sank a three-pointer and then Baldwin banked in a running floater and added a jumper to cause the guests to stop the game at 68-63. Zipser dunked and Baldwin capped a 9-1 run from the foul line for a 72-64 lead with over 2 minutes left. Panathinaikos kept trying, but Bayern had cruised to its 18th victory.
Pivotal performer
Wade Baldwin IV dominated the game tempo, creating shots in one-on-one opportunities and sharing the ball effectively. He finished the game with 27 points on 7-of-11 two-point shooting and 7-of-7 on free throws plus 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 7 fouls drawn for a PIR of 34.
Game-changing moment
Panathinaikos found Georgios Papagiannis for a layup that tied the game at 61-61. It didn't last long, as Vladimir Lucic struck from downtown, Baldwin followed a floater with a jumper and Paul Zipser added a huge fastbreak slam in a 9-1 run that sealed the outcome, 72-64, as Panathinaikos never recovered.
Stellar stat
Bayern was more aggressive all around, finishing the game with 27 fouls committed and drawing just 17. Even though Panathinaikos had a higher team PIR, 76-82, Bayern won the game. Panathinaikos only hit 4 of 22 three-pointers (22.2%) and Bayern had a much better percentage (7 of 18, 38.9%).
Did you know?
Bayern finished the game with 13 steals, matching its season-high. It previously had 13 steals in a Round 3 road win against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. The club record is 15 against Khimki Moscow Region in a 69-60 home victory in October 2015.
Next game
Both teams return to EuroLeague action next week. Panathinaikos hosts Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Thursday, March 11 with the Greens' head coach Oded Kattash facing his boyhood club. Bayern visits TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz the next day.
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Euroleague.net