The German champs improved to a league-best 8-0 at home
Bayern rallies to outlast Maccabi, 98-93
FC Bayern Munich extended its home winning streak at the brand-new SAP Garden to eight games by grabbing a 98-93 comeback victory over Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Thursday night. The visitors started strong and led for the first three quarters, but Bayern bounced back in the fourth, outscored Maccabi 31-21 and clinched a hard-fought victory. The German champs improved to 10-5 for a share of second place in the standings, with Maccabi dropping to 4-11.
Carsen Edwards paced Bayern with 25 points, Andreas Obst netted 23, Devin Booker had 14 and Shabazz Napier added 13. For Maccabi, Jaylen Hoard recorded a team-high 25 points, Levi Randolph chipped in with 20, Wenyen Gabriel scored a season-high 16 points and Tamir Blatt registered a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists.
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Obst opened the scoring with a corner triple, but a bucket inside from Gabriel and a Rokas Jokubaitis layup in transition put Maccabi ahead, 3-5. Baskets from Booker and Edwards sandwiched a triple by Blatt, but Hoard netted back-to-back buckets for a 7-14 lead. Obst drilled a second triple before 5 points from Edwards brought Bayern within 15-16. After Jake Cohen netted an open basket from inside, 4 points from Randolph and a Marial Shayok layup on the break opened a 15-25 lead. Five points from Napier ended Maccabi’s 0-9 run. Then, John DiBartolomeo nailed a three and Shayok scored again in transition, but Danko Brankovic netted inside to trim the deficit to 22-30 after 10 minutes.
A hard-fought bucket from Randolph was followed by baskets from Edwards and Brankovic, who took his tally to 6 quick points, cutting the gap to 28-32. Gabriel and Edwards traded baskets before Will Rayman gave Maccabi a 30-37 advantage. Booker scored inside, but Blatt connected twice with Hoard, who extended the margin to 33-41. After Blatt sank back-to-back threes, Booker responded with a three-point play that reduced the gap to 38-48. A triple from Nick Weiler-Babb was followed by an inside score from Edwards, who took his tally to 13 first-half points and brought Bayern within 43-50 at the break.
Maccabi started strong in the third quarter, with Gabriel scoring a couple of baskets and Randolph hitting a triple for a 45-57 cushion. Obst and Randolph exchanged threes before Johannes Voigtmann cut the difference to 50-60. Hoard scored inside and Blatt nailed one from long distance to extend Bayern’s lead to 50-65. But Obst sank another one before buckets from Booker and Voigtmann cut the deficit to 57-67. After Randolph and Obst traded triples, Napier reduced the gap to 64-70 with a layup in transition. Then, Hoard replied with one of his own on the break, but Obst’s sixth triple of the night cut it to 67-72 heading into the closing quarter.
Napier opened the fourth with a triple before a monster slam from Booker and another three from the former put Bayern in front, 75-72. Randolph and Niels Giffey traded three-pointers. Gabriel cut the difference to 78-77. After Edwards scored back-to-back layups, Voigtmann nailed a triple that extended Bayern’s lead to 85-80. Two straight dunks from Hoard tied it, but Obst nailed yet another triple and 4 points from Edwards put Bayern back in front, 92-87, with 01:18 to go. Then, the game turned into a free-throw contest, with Edwards making 4 of 4 from the line to seal it.