It was only fitting that Wade Baldwin IV and Jalen Reynolds combined for the final basket to secure FC Bayern Munich’s win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul. After all, that pair helped the club lock up the surprising comeback win. With Bayern up by 1 point and less than 15 seconds left, Baldwin beat the trap and delivered a long pass to Reynolds for the dunk to provide the final score line of 71-74. Bayern came back from 10 points down with 7 minutes left and grabbed its seventh win in the last eight games for a 7-2 record and its best-ever start to a EuroLeague season.
Baldwin poured in 15 points and dished out a Bayern club record 11 assists while Reynolds collected 14 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Baldwin missed all four of his field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter, hitting only 2 free throws to get Bayern within 66-64. But Baldwin dished out 5 assists in the final 10 minutes - including setting up both of Nick Weiler-Babb’s big three-pointers and Bayern’s final three baskets.
Reynolds, who was held in check through the first 30 minutes, tallied 12 of his points in the final frame including Bayern’s final 7 points in the last 98 seconds.
"We knew coming into this game it was going to be a war. I struggled in the first half trying to get myself going, but I knew I had to pick it up in the second half and help my team," said Reynolds. "You’re going to have your ups and your downs. You just have to stay together as a team and be able to execute down the stretch and make the right decision and just be locked in."
Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri said nobody can expect a team to come back from 10 points down in the final 7 minutes. But he added his team has given him a reason to believe strongly in it.
"You cannot expect this kind of comeback. But I expect it because my players already showed me they will try no matter what. They will try to stay in the game," he said. "We have a team that is a real team. We have different players stepping up every game. And this is the reason we have this comeback mode."
This time it was Baldwin and Reynolds doing the honors - and not just on the final scoring play.