The hosts broke the game in the third period and recorded 34 assists
Crvena Zvezda demolishes Bayern, 101-77
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade bounced back in style from its last home loss against archrival Partizan by beating the visiting FC Bayern Munich at Belgrade Arena on Friday night. The hosts had a strong start with Filip Petrusev ruling inside to earn a 25-19 lead after 10 minutes and a 42-34 edge at halftime, but the hosts pulled away after the intermission. A 17-2 run with Ognjen Dobric running the show made Bayern fall into pieces in the third quarter, helping Zvezda get a balanced winning record at 6-6, while Bayern dropped to 8-4.
Petrusev tied his career high in points with 25, 15 of which came in the first period, to lead the winners. Maike Daum followed with 16 points, Ognjen Dobric got 15 and Nikola Kalinic chipped in 10, while Cody Miller-McIntyre recorded 12 of Zvezda's 34 assists, which broke a club record. Devin Booker provided 14 points for Bayern, which also had Onuralp Bitim and Shabazz Napier in double figures with 14 and 11 points respectively.
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Zvezda and Bayern started the game with clearly opposite approaches. Since the hosts insisted on feeding its frontcourt to find easy points under the rim, the visitors looked for long-distance shooting on most of its offensive possessions. It worked better for the Serbian side, as Petrusev scored 7 of his team’s first 11 points to put Zvezda 11-8 ahead after 5 minutes. Despite Booker and Oscar da Silva’s effort on the break, the home team retained a safe 18-12 margin, with all its points coming from inside the paint or from the free-throw line. The first three from Zvezda would come soon after and from the hands of Petrusev, who also added a terrific dunk to make it 23-14. Even though Petrusev added another bucket, Bitim and Da Silva helped Bayern reach the end of the first period trailing by just 6, 25-19.
The trend continued after the break, as Elias Harris hit a jumper and Bitim nailed a three to get Bayern within 26-24. Zvezda stopped it with a timeout, but it didn’t prevent Bayern from getting its first lead of the game, 26-28, after Bitim and Harris made the most of Zvezda's mistakes in defense. The hosts didn’t collapse, though, and found a way to turn the tables thanks to bringing Milos Teodosic and Yago Dos Santos together on the court. They both sparked a 12-0 run by scoring, passing and making Zvezda run the court, which resulted in a 38-28 lead midway through the second period. Daum and Petrusev took over on offense later to keep the hosts’ momentum, but Bayern managed to prevent an early ending thanks to back-to-back triples by Obst and Napier that saw the visitors close the first half with a manageable 8-point deficit, 50-42.
Petrusev was red-hot after the intermission with a three, an inside bucket and a block, good for a 55-42 Zvezda advantage. Bayern tried to find a fast rally from the three-point line, but got just one trey from Nick Weiler-Babb, too few to compensate for Dobric-Daum partnership, which made 12 points on four plays to dig it deep, 67-47, after 24 minutes. Booker tried to bring his team back with a powerful dunk, but Zvezda was already soaring. Another strong 8-0 run led by Dobric elevated the hosts to a 75-49 lead with less than 3 minutes to go in the quarter. Bayern tried to shift momentum by intermittently switching to zone-defense, but nothing ended up clicking for the guests. An inside bucket by Plavsic closed the third period with a 79-52 home lead.
A 0-7 run early in the last period seemed to reactivate Bayern, 81-59, but it was nothing but an illusion against an extra-motivated Zvezda. A short jumper by Rokas Giedraitis and a triple by Daum froze Bayern for the last time, as both coaches decided to use the game to give some playing time to bench players. Still trying zone defense for a while, Bayern could do nothing but avoid an even more painful punishment. Isaiah Canaan made it a 32-point game, 99-67, from behind the arc, but a 2-9 spark in the last 2 minutes of the game lessened the wounds and reduced the margin to 101-77 at the final buzzer.