2020-21PlayoffsGame 3
FC Bayern Munich 85
AX Armani Exchange Milan 79
April 28, 2021 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 AUDI DOME

Bayern holds off Milan to stay alive

FC Bayern Munich kept its Final Four hopes alive by overcoming AX Armani Exchange Milan 85-79 at home in Game 3 of the teams' best-of-five Turkish Airlines EuroLeague series on Wednesday. The teams will now return on Friday with Bayern looking to square the series and Milan seeking the victory it needs to advance to the Final Four. Bayern raced to a double-digit lead with a 14-0 run before the end of the first quarter, but Milan battled back and briefly led in the second quarter, which finished with Bayern narrowly in front, 39-35. The home team opened the second half with another 14-0 tear and stayed in front the rest of the way despite Milan keeping it close. Vladimir Lucic was the home team’s main inspiration, pairing 27 points with 7 rebounds. Wade Baldwin IV and Paul Zipser both added 11 points and JaJuan Johnson had 9 points and 9 rebounds. Malcolm Delaney led Milan with 18 points, while Sergio Rodriguez and Shavon Shields both scored 11.

Diego Flaccadori opened the scoring from deep, before Johnson and Baldwin gave the hosts a 7-0 start. Kevin Punter finally sparked Milan to life and the visitors pulled it back to 9-9 through Delaney and Zach LeDay. Lucic with a triple and Jalen Reynolds with a hook pulled Bayern clear again. Sisko hit another three and Reynolds added another pair of scores before DJ Seeley finished the first quarter at 23-9 after a 14-0 Bayern run. Kyle Hines ignited Milan with a fastbreak dunk and Rodriguez added a layup-and-one. Zipser’s tip-in was answered by Luigi Datome’s fadeaway and a pair of Shields triples. James Gist snapped the 0-8 run with a mid-range strike, but Datome struck again to make it 27-25. Free throws pushed Bayern further ahead, but 5 points from Delaney and a three from Jeff Brooks gave Milan its first and only lead, 32-33. Lucic sent Bayern straight back in front and Zipser added a fastbreak layup-and-one to give the hosts a halftime lead, 39-35.

Bayern started the second half with a reverse from Leon Radosevic and a mid-range jumper from Johnson. Baldwin then scored 4 consecutive points to take the advantage back to double digits and Lucic capped a 14-0 run for a 53-35 lead. Shields finally opened Milan’s second-half account with a dunk, but Lucic stayed hot with a long two and a three-pointer to send Bayern ahead 58-40. Rodriguez boosted Milan with a three-pointer and a slicing layup before Sisko’s inside score was answered by Punter’s triple-and-one to make it 64-51 after three quarters. Delaney reduced the deficit to single digits with a four-point play and then added a layup-and-one to make it 64-58. Lucic settled Bayern with another three-pointer and Sisko added a jumper for a 69-58 lead. Zipser and Johnson kept the advantage in double figures despite another Delaney triple before Hines made a three-point play for a 75-66 margin with 5 minutes left. Zipser’s free throws and Gist’s mid-range strike stretched the lead as Milan’s offense went cold. LeDay and Michael Roll made it 80-73 going into the final minute and Kaleb Tarczewski added a trio of dunks, but Lucic free throws allowed Bayern to hold on.

Landmark win for German basketball

The victory was not only Bayern’s first in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs, but also the first gained by any German team at this stage of the season. It was also the first win in the playoffs for Coach Andrea Trinchieri and it came against the team where he started his coaching career as an assistant.

Sisko steps up after Baldwin fouls out

Bayern’s backcourt leader Wade Baldwin IV fouled out very early in the fourth quarter, but Zan Sisko rose to the challenge with one of his best performances. The Slovenian point guard scored 9 points and added a career-high 8 assists in 25:54 on the court, another personal best.

Milan starts both halves slowly

Milan was held scoreless for the opening 3:33 of the game, in which it missed its first 6 shots. The same story was then repeated after halftime, with the visitors failing to score for nearly 5 minutes at the start of the third quarter and again missing 6 straight shots.

Bayern stifles Milan’s creativity

Bayern’s defense generally did a great job of clamping down on Milan’s playmakers. Sergio Rodriguez (2) and Malcolm Delaney (1) combined for just 3 assists and the Italian team was limited to just 11 assists.

Vladimir Lucic - FC Bayern Munich - EB20
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: JAVOR, DAMIR; DIFALLAH, MEHDI; VILIUS, GYTIS
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
FC Bayern Munich23162521
AX Armani Exchange Milan9261628
End of Quarter1234
FC Bayern Munich23396485
AX Armani Exchange Milan9355179
FC Bayern Munich
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 GEORGE, JASON DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 BALDWIN IV, WADE 18:07 11 3/6 0/1 5/6   2 2 4   2     5 3 8
4 SEELEY, DENNIS 17:32 3 1/2 0/1 1/2       1   1       2 2
8 REYNOLDS, JALEN 8:11 6 3/5     1 1 2 1   1     3 2 5
11 LUCIC, VLADIMIR 34:20 27 2/6 4/5 11/12   7 7 1   2     2 10 35
12 FLACCADORI, DIEGO 10:32 3 0/1 1/1     2 2 1         3   2
16 ZIPSER, PAUL 15:59 11 3/4   5/6 1 2 3   1 2 1   2 3 13
21 GIST, JAMES 22:26 4 2/3 0/1 0/2 1 2 3           2 1 2
25 JOHNSON, JAJUAN 29:06 9 4/6   1/2 2 7 9 1 1   1   2 3 19
31 SISKO, ZAN MARK 25:54 9 3/6 1/3     2 2 8 1 1   1 4 1 10
43 RADOSEVIC, LEON 17:35 2 1/1 0/1   1 1 2 1         2   2
44 GRANT, SASHA 0:18                              
Team           3 2 5     1         4
Totals 200:00 85 22/40 6/13 23/30 9 28 37 18 3 10 2 1 25 25 102
        55% 46.2% 76.7%
Head coach: TRINCHIERI, ANDREA
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
AX Armani Exchange Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 PUNTER, KEVIN 21:59 8 1/3 1/4 3/3   3 3   1 1     3 2 5
2 LEDAY, ZACH 21:36 4 2/4 0/1   2 2 4   1       3 1 4
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 13:58 2 1/4     1 1 2     1     2   -2
10 ROLL, MICHAEL 3:29 3   1/1         3         2   4
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 17:55 11 2/3 1/5 4/5   1 1 2       1   4 11
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 8:24 6 3/3   0/1                 2 1 4
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 25:58 18 2/6 3/6 5/6 1 1 2 1   1     1 10 21
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 22:19 11 2/4 2/6 1/1 1 2 3   1 3     1 2 7
32 BROOKS, JEFF 14:11 3   1/1     1 1 1     1   3   3
40 EVANS, JEREMY 9:27           2 2     1     2 1  
42 HINES, KYLE 24:05 5 2/5   1/1 3   3 3 2 2   1 3 2 6
70 DATOME, LUIGI 16:39 8 3/5 0/2 2/3   3 3 1         3 1 5
Team           2 3 5     2         3
Totals 200:00 79 18/37 9/26 16/20 10 19 29 11 5 11 1 2 25 24 71
        48.6% 34.6% 80%
Head coach: MESSINA, ETTORE

Head Coaches

TRINCHIERI, ANDREA
FC Bayern Munich

"We have still a lot to do. We entered finally in the series and in 48 hours it’s the same exact thing as today. We found some new stuff today, some players helped us, and we have to find again something new in order to play another very difficult game. I believe the whole team played hard, and we played great defense. The last 3 minutes was a little bit…we could not stop them, but we had foul trouble and the alignments were just to keep handlers with four fouls alive. I believe the team did a very solid game."

"We are in the exact same situation as before the game. We have a game on Friday and we have to win to stay alive. The only thing that changed is that after four tries, when we were very close, today we won a game against a very good team. They are very deep, deeper than us because we miss two important guards, and we won a game with foul troubles, with great defensive effort. The other key thing was that DJ Seeley, Diego Flaccadori and JJ Johnson helped us a lot. In these games, of course, you have Lucic, big players, but without the help of other players, we cannot win. We were very close to winning the first game in Milan and the reason was that we had a team. Tonight we played again as a team, and now we are in the series, we have to forget, regenerate and try to find some freshness to play another battle on Friday."

MESSINA, ETTORE
AX Armani Exchange Milan
"Congratulations to Bayern, who played a good game. We didn’t have our best night. We just now go back to the hotel, rest and get ready for Game 4. I think we had a bad start in the third quarter and that was really the decisive factor."

Players

LUCIC, VLADIMIR
FC Bayern Munich
"I’m happy that we won, obviously. I don’t think we deserved to be swept, to lose five games against them, so I’m happy for the win. It’s a new opportunity – in two days we will try to bring the series back to Milan. I think our energy [made the difference]. We didn’t give up, we made some adjustments tactically, but the energy was there and when we play like this we are hard to beat."
JOHNSON, JAJUAN
FC Bayern Munich
"I think the first two games they got a lot of extra rebounds, extra possessions, and I think that ended up hurting us. Today we made the adjustment and limited that, and got our team some extra shots as well, so I think that was a big difference in the game. It’s a step in the right direction. The position we’re in, we have to take in one game at a time, so we’re focussing on the next game, try to get that one and then go back to Milan."
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