Bayern comes back to sink Olympiacos

FC Bayern Munich used a huge fourth-quarter rally to beat visiting Olympiacos Piraeus 85-82 on Tuesday night at Audi Dome. Bayern ended its three-game losing streak and improved to 4-5, while Olympiacos dropped to 3-6. The Reds were in control and up by 12 points early in the fourth quarter, but Bayern put together a 27-8 charge to turn the game around and register another home win. Each Bayern starter finished in double figures in points with Maodo Lo stepping up late and finishing with 19 points and 7 assists, while Danilo Barthel also came up big in the fourth quarter and scored 18 points. Greg Monroe collected 15 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals, while Vladimir Lucic and Paul Zipser had 13 points apiece. Wade Baldwin came off the bench to net 19 points for Olympiacos, Nikola Milutinov had 14 points, Georgios Printezis added 12 and Kostas Papanikolaou scored 10 in a losing effort.

Bayern took control early with a 17-2 run. The hosts forced 6 turnovers in less than 6 minutes, while Lo hit a three-pointer and Monroe started a fast break and then scored inside to open a 17-6 lead. Papanikolaou got the Reds going and a pair of baskets from Baldwin cut it to 19-16. Lucic hit a triple-plus-foul to make it 23-17 after 10 minutes before Brandon Paul and Taylor Rochestie each had a triple for Olympiacos to get within 28-25 early in the second. Monroe was a force inside for Bayern, but Rochestie continued fueling Olympiacos before Vassilis Spanoulis hit a three-pointer to help put the visitors up 39-40. A pair of shot-clock beating floaters from Printezis kept the visitors in front, 43-44 at halftime. He then scored in a low post again and Papanikolaou added a triple to make it 45-51 early in the third. Monroe scored inside, but Baldwin had a triple followed by a steal and a fastbreak dunk before a pair of inside baskets from Milutinov made it 50-61 late in the third. The visitors took a 55-63 advantage into the fourth quarter and Printezis helped extend it to 55-67. But Lo hit from downtown, followed by Lucic scoring twice inside. That's when Barthel caught fire, scoring once from long range and twice more from close range to put Bayern in front 72-71 with 3:30 to go. Then Lo took over, hitting back-to-back triples and dishing to Monroe for an easy to make it 82-75 with 46 seconds left that sealed the outcome.

Fifth time a charm

Scoring spurt

Bayern scored 38 points in a span of 24 minutes from midway through the first quarter until the early stages of the fourth. Then, down 55-67, the teams started clicking and three-pointers from Maodo Lo and Danilo Barthel sparked the hosts, who went on a 27-8 charge and scored 30 points in less than 8 minutes to win this game.

Starters vs. bench

Olympiacos had a great contribution from its bench, which accounted for 40 points, however, it was the starting five of the hosts that came up biggest in this game. Bayern's starters combined to score 78 of their team's 85 points, with each player finishing with at least 13 points.

Another Printezis milestone

Five days after reaching 3,000 points for his career, Georgios Printezis became only the second man in competition history to make 1,000 two-pointers. Printezis reached this milestone in trademark style, with a shot-clock beating turnaround floater to make it 39-42 in the penultimate minute of the second quarter. The only player with more two-point shots than Printezis is FC Barcelona center Ante Tomic, who has 1,092 entering Round 9.

Next up

Round 10 takes place later this week and it will feature a pair of German-Greek clashes. Olympiacos will remain on German soil to face ALBA Berlin on Thursday, while Bayern stays at home and welcomes Panathinaikos Athens on Friday.