The young center got just the second start of his early EuroLeague career in Round 17.
Danko Brankovic showed what he can offer Bayern in win over Valencia
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When it became clear that Serge Ibaka would not be available for FC Bayern Munich against Valencia Basket, a few doubts may have crept into the heads of some fans. Well, given how Danko Brankovic ended up performing, those doubts were well and truly put to bed as Bayern came away with an 85-84 victory.
A big step in the right direction
Playing in his rookie season in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, the 23-year-old center had his best performance to date in his brief 12-game career in Round 17. Not only did Brankovic have a career-high PIR of 16, the second-highest total of any Bayern player, but he also had career-best totals of 11 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists in a personal-best 19:14 minutes on the floor. Add in his 1 steal and 1 block and it made for a very impressive night by Bayern’s No. 22.
“Playing without Serge wasn’t easy,” stated Bayern boss Pablo Laso in the post-game flash interview. “We suffered today without Serge probably more than any other game, because they are very strong inside and we needed someone to protect our rim. I think Danko did a great job, Devin [Booker] suffered a lot against their big guys, and Brandon [Davies, Valencia’s starting center] is a very good player.”
Making an early impact
In fact, Brankovic’s energy and hustle was felt throughout the night and even in the absence of such a dominant player such as Ibaka, the Croatian big man found ways to impact the game. In case there were some Bayern fans who were not too aware of Brankovic’s talent, they got to see what he can offer in the first moments of the game.
Brankovic showed his court awareness early on by picking out Booker for a corner three in what was Bayern’s first score of the game, then he got out in the open floor for a fastbreak layup before grabbing an offensive rebound and scoring a put-back layup. Those three scores all had Brankovic’s name written all over them, as Bayern opened a 7-4 lead.
After, there was a put-back dunk in the second quarter and a couple of scores in the third as he moved to 10 points and 7 rebounds, of which 3 came on the offensive end. In the fourth and final quarter, Brankovic blocked Josep Puerto’s jumper with the score 69-71 in Valencia’s favor with 5 minutes to go, before stealing the ball from Davies, which led to a Leandro Bolmaro dunk on the fastbreak.
The Croatian’s night ended up coming to a premature end with 3:09 remaining in the fourth quarter and Bayern up 76-71, but he had made such an impact that the German side was then able to piggyback on his good work and see the job over the line, 85-84.
Laso has been tough with him
As Coach Laso noted afterward, the training staff have been working their socks off to get Brankovic up to speed in the EuroLeague, and the Spaniard even admitted to being particularly tough with the 23-year-old during training camp. He did, however, make sure to praise his impressive performance against Valencia first.
“I only have good words for Danko. He’s been doing a great job during the whole year,” Laso added. “I’m going to say it here, but I killed him in preseason. I went like, ‘Welcome to the EuroLeague.’ It’s not easy for him to adjust to this competition, but he played very good.
“All my assistants and all my staff are doing a great job of making him grow up. We believe a lot in him and he gives us that confidence back. In games like today, we’re very happy to have him because we know that it’s important a young kid steps up in these kinds of moments and these kinds of things, so I’m very happy for him and for the victory.”
Ibaka won’t be missing too often this season, but Brankovic, who started for just the second time in Round 17, has shown that he has what it takes to step into the shoes of the three-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection.