The towering center produced a flawless performance on his return to action from injury
Devin Booker came up big as Bayern held firm to dismiss Zvezda
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Regular Season
Round 27 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Bayern Munich (12-15) overcame sudden pre-game adversity to grind out a 74-66 home win over Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade (10-17) in Round 27 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season, keeping alive its hopes of making the playoffs in the process.
Sharpshooter Sylvain Francisco was ruled out of the contest with illness only a few hours before tipoff, but the home team prevailed on the back of a heroic performance from center Devin Booker, who racked up a season-high 22 points and 6 rebounds on his return to action after missing three games through injury.
Zvezda raced into an early 10-19 lead but Bayern turned the tide with ironclad defense which confined the visitors to a mere 4 points in a 12-minute interval, with the towering Booker doing damage at both ends of the court.
The big man revealed he was inspired by the presence of his family and stressed just how vital the outcome was in Bayern’s quest to make the post-season. “My family is in town, so they gave me a bit of an extra boost and motivation,” Booker said in a flash post-game interview.
“I came out and played hard from the beginning, we played a great defensive game, so that’s where the momentum came from. We’re trying to take it one game at a time, so this is where our main focus is right now. It’s a very important win.”
Bayern’s other veterans helped out, too
Apart from Booker, Serge Ibaka also played a key role with 12 points and 8 rebounds, prompting head coach Pablo Laso to praise both men while also singling out forward Vladimir Lucic.
“It took us a little bit to get into the game defensively and for 37 minutes we played very solid,” the Spaniard commented. “We made some mistakes, but in general we did a very good job. We will fight until the end, that’s how we have to approach the rest of the season.
“Apart from Booker and Ibaka, Lucic played great on both ends of the floor as he defended and passed the ball really well. Devin did a great job on his comeback after almost a month out, it was his most impressive shooting night and I am very happy for him.”
It was a second successive win for Bayern against Serbian opposition after the German side clinched a dramatic 78-79 win at Zvezda’s traditional city rival Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade before the three-week EuroLeague break.
Zvezda’s hopes of avoiding an early end to its campaign for a second successive season are now hanging by a thread, having lost five of its last six games following a poor performance on the offensive end for the lion’s share of the contest at BMW Park.