Munich (dpa) - The frustration over the defeat in the last group game of the Bundesliga final tournament was noticeable to the basketball players of FC Bayern.
After 81:89 against EWE Baskets Oldenburg, the defending champion goes into the quarter-finals with a damper and may meet championship favorite Alba Berlin there. "We have some statistics that you can't use to win a game," said coach Oliver Kostic. 16 turnovers, ie ball losses in the attack, went under the defending champion; Bayern also allowed the opponent 15 offensive rebounds. "It was nerve-racking for us," said international player Paul Zipser.
The champion of the past two years had apparently led soothing against Oldenburg in the meantime, but then completely lost momentum in the last quarter. The EWE Baskets showed a 14-0 run in those minutes and made the preliminary decision. "We had a good phase, but when we were five or six points behind it felt like the game was over," said veteran and top scorer Vladimir Lucic at Magentasport.
Zipser added: "We just couldn't make it out of this hole. We didn't try to get out together." The ex-NBA professional complained about too many individual actions instead of trying as a team. "That can't happen to us," he said.
Due to the defeat, the Munich finished the preliminary round group A in third place behind the loss-free Ulm and Oldenburg. That means they will meet second in Group B in Wednesday's quarter-finals. This will be the loser of the top game on Monday between unbeaten Alba Berlin and MHP giant Ludwigsburg. So if the Berliners lose the match, the two Bundesliga final series 2018 and 2019 will be re-launched right at the start of the knockout phase; Bayern won both times.