The chances of the quarter -finals in the Euroleague have dropped again.
On the home stretch, FC Bayern really got into difficulty, the chances of the quarter -final ticket in the Euroleague have dropped again for the Munich basketball players with a mistake against Maccabi Tel Aviv. “After a bad first half, everything went backwards,” said Elias Harris to the unnecessary 90:93 (44:48) in Belgrade.
On the penultimate main round game day, the German champion slipped from fifth to sixth place and it goes down to seventh place, as the pursuers Anadolu Istanbul and Red Stern Belgrade play against each other on Friday evening. So Bayern have to overtake at least one team to avoid the play-ins, and that becomes tricky.
Munich (19:14) plays on Thursday (8:00 p.m./Magenta Sport) against the second in the table Fenerbahce Istanbul and has to win, because the Spanish heavyweights Real Madrid (5th) and FC Barcelona (7th) have the same balance. Likewise the winner of the duel between Istanbul and Belgrade. In the end, direct comparisons among the teams could be decisive.
Bayern have sure to have their place in the Play-in tournament, but if it should still work with the quarter-finals via this path, a thick chunk would wait at the start. It would work against the main round winner or second.
“We had a difficult first half,” said coach Gordon Herbert, and it also hooked in the final phase. “In the end we had good, open throws when we were four and two points ahead – we just didn’t do them.” Three seconds were still on the clock when top scorer Carsen Edwards (33 points) shortened to 90:91 by three, but it was no longer enough. In the meantime, the Bavarians had clearly been at the forefront (77: 61/31. Minute).
Tel Aviv, which is playing its home games in Serbia because of the war in Middle East, “played to the end and we made some serious mistakes at the end,” said Shabazz Napier: “Of course, we make it difficult with the defeat, but we just have to start the next game against Fenerbahce.”
The top six teams in the Euroleague directly reach the master round, which can be found in places seven to ten games in play-in two more play-off tickets. The Bavarians had reached the round of the last eight in 2021 and 2022, and Herbert gave the first time in the final Four before the current season.