The FC Bayern Basketball team is facing a real away-game marathon. The schedule is causing irritation in Munich. Gordon Herbert takes it with gallows humor.
After three wins in a row, the FC Bayern basketball team is back on track. In the EuroLeague, with a record of 4:4, they are within striking distance of the play-in spots, and in the BBL, with a record of 4:1, they are only not leading the table due to fewer games played.
The three wins of the past week were bitterly necessary, after the confident success against Heidelberg, an extremely long and almost bizarre away-game marathon begins for Bayern.
The FC Bayern basketball team must stick together in the coming weeks
Including the game at the Skyliners Frankfurt on the second day of Christmas, the FCBB has to play an incredible 14 times away from home in the next 17 games.
The schedule seems even more absurd when you consider that ten of the twelve games so far have taken place in Munich. “It’s very strange. I only thought about it yesterday that I have only been in Munich since returning from the European Championship,” said European champion Justus Hollatz after the Heidelberg game on SPORT1 .
“The schedule is very strange”
The regular time in Munich will now be over. Already on Thursday (9 pm) they continue in the EuroLeague at Paris Basketball, before Bayern have to go to Vechta at the weekend.
The last home game for a long time will follow next Wednesday against FC Barcelona. After that, Bayern will not play in Munich for almost a month. Instead, they have to play away six times in a row, traveling across Europe.
“The schedule is very strange. First we only have home games, then only away games. That’s also bad for the fans. It’s also very difficult for the team, of course,” criticizes Bayern coach Gordon Herbert.
After four away games in the EuroLeague (in Istanbul, Vitoria Gasteiz, Valencia and Belgrade) and two in Germany (in Trier and Ulm), Bayern are allowed to play at home again on December 7 against the Mitteldeutschen Basketball Club.
Herbert reacts with humor: “Moving out for two months”
“November and December will be extremely hard with the schedule,” said Hollatz, looking at the two upcoming months. Because in December, things will continue extremely hard for Bayern.
After the game against MBC, another five away games and trips follow in the order of Dubai, Oldenburg, Monaco, Lyon and Cologne, where Telekom Baskets Bonn will play their league game against Bayern on December 21.
First, one day before Christmas (on December 23 against Hapoel Tel Aviv), the FCBB plays again in their home hall, before the game in Frankfurt on December 26 rounds off the away-game spectacle.
“We are hardly at home, perfect at Christmas time of course …,” said European champion Hollatz with a sarcastic undertone.
His coach tries to meet the curious schedule with gallows humor. “I’m moving out of my apartment for two months and taking some rent, because I’m not there anyway,” said Herbert laughing: “We can’t change it and will make the best of the situation.”
Hollatz also sees positive aspects
Hollatz also sees it that way, who wants to draw something good from the many trips: “We were here a lot now, so of course everyone has their own private life. If you travel a lot, that also connects.”
The world and European champion believes that the team will grow even closer together: “We then play cards together or go out for dinner together in the evening.”
“That definitely brings people together. If you talk to each other while eating together, you simply get to know the people differently and much better. That brings a lot. If you get along well off the court, everyone fights even more for the other on the field,” says Hollatz.
And so the European and German tour in November and December could also have something good for Bayern’s season. For this, however, victories must also be achieved in the BBL and EuroLeague, so that no cabin fever arises.
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