Euroleague: Valencia goes out in the last quarter in Munich

Un consistent Bayern Munich, which withstood the attacks of Chris Jones and Brandon Davies throughout the game, achieved a hard-fought victory this Thursday in the Euroleague (85-84) against a Valencia Basket that lacked freshness in attack to contain the reaction German and who had the victory in a distant triple from Arostegui in the last second.

A 14-3 run by Pablo Laso’s team in the last quarter with Bolmaro and Obst as protagonists helped the Germans take the victory despite the absence of Serge Ibaka, who was out at the last minute due to a viral process, while the Valencia, which arrived in Munich with five casualties, was unable to secure a victory that was slipping away in the final minutes and closes the first round of the Euroleague with a balance of 9-8.

Neither of the two teams came out particularly engaged on the hardwood, with Valencia trusting everything one by one to Chris Jones and Brandon Davies, although both were not very successful at the start. The Bavarian team was not much better, as it took them a while to find center Marko Brankovic first and then guard Carsen Edwards, who opened a small advantage that Mumbrú’s team only closed with the departure of Reuvers and Touré (16-16).

The ‘taronja’ team’s attacks were still not fluid until an inspired Martin Hermannsson entered the park, which led to better ball circulation and easy points for Arostegui. But Obst closed a 2-10 run (18-23, m. 12) with a pair of triples, although the success of Robertson and Anderson – who did not clash in his debut – allowed Valencia to go into the break (38-39 ) in front.

Upon leaving the locker room, Jones and Davies redeemed themselves from their start to the game and with thirteen points between them in just five minutes (45-52, m.26) they led the visitors, although some good minutes from Bolmaro and the outside success of Edwards once again balanced the duel.

Valencia seemed to have preferred scoring to defending and that weighed on them after their good exit from the locker room. Mumbrú’s team could not stop the bleeding on the offensive rebound and saw how the Bavarian team not only tied the game but also went four up. But two consecutive triples from Jones and Reuvers once again balanced the match, which went to the last quarter with everything to decide (60-62).

Anderson and Arostegui stretched the lead to six points with eight minutes remaining, forcing Laso to stop the game. As on every occasion in which Bayern needed to change the game, Obst appeared from the line of three to reassure the locals, who did not detach themselves from the game, in which former ‘taronja’ player Vladimir Lucic also appeared.

Valencia Basket got stuck in attack with six minutes remaining and Laso’s men took advantage of it with the help of Leandro Bolmaro and the German Andreas Obst and went five up (76-71, m. 36) thanks to a partial 14-3 for the Bavarians.

A triple by Davies and a subsequent reverse brought Valencia within one (80-79, m.38), but two points from Bonga and two free throws from Lucic seemed to put things in the way. Jones had the ball to tie the game with fifteen seconds left, but he couldn’t hit it from the three-point line. However, a last-gasp three-pointer by Robertson and a loss with a second left for the Germans gave Valencia the opportunity to win the match, but Arostegui’s shot from his own half did not go in and the victory remained in Munich.