Bayern’s big man put in another impressive shift in a crunch victory over Zalgiris
Booker shined as Coach Laso celebrated milestone EuroLeague win
Article
3 Mins read
FC Bayern Munich kept its hopes of reaching the postseason very much alive with a gritty 64-58 home win over Zalgiris Kaunas in Round 29 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season, largely thanks to yet another big performance from towering center Devin Booker.
The outcome also meant a sweet milestone for Bayern’s head coach Pablo Laso, who celebrated his 250th win in Europe’s premier club competition and was unaware of the accomplishment until the flash post-game interview.
“I didn’t even know, but [it] sounds very good,” said Laso, who coached Real Madrid between 2011 and 2022, winning two EuroLeague titles with the club. “I am very happy for the number but also for the victory, I thought our effort was very good. Defensively, we did a very good job leaving a EuroLeague team under 60 points.”
Booker was a menace all over the court as he mixed three-pointers with trademark points in the paint, outmuscling his markers time and again to rack up 20 points and 6 rebounds. He restricted the visiting team’s big man Laurynas Birutis to just 6 points as Zalgiris struggled to make shots against Bayern’s mobile and aggressive defense, prompting Booker to point out that rebounding was the key.
Bayern picked up 34 boards and 26 were on the defensive end, with Zalgiris only finding its range from downtown late in the game when the hosts were able to run the clock down.
“It all started with the defense,” commented Booker. “They are a team who loves to shoot so we just had to collect the misses. Before the game, Coach stressed how important it was to play defense. The first half was pretty solid and we stayed with it for the most part. We let up a little bit towards the end, but the good defense transitioned into offense.”
Guard Nick Weiler-Babb was another key performer for Bayern with 10 points, 4 boards and 3 assists, although he had a torrid time guarding Keenan Evans who paced Zalgiris with a game-high 21 points. Evans briefly rekindled the visitors’ hopes of turning the match on its head with 8 straight points in the dying minutes, but Zalgiris fell short of completing the comeback.
Nonetheless, Weiler-Babb heaped praise on Evans, a player whose skills he’s been all too familiar with for quite a while. “He’s a heck of a player, I’ve known him since I was a kid in high school,” Weiler-Babb said in his post-game interview. “We played together for a year and it’s always good to see a guy like that from our home state do so well. He is a high-caliber player and tough to guard.”
Zalgiris head coach Andrea Trinchieri lamented over his team’s poor performance on the offensive end as well as the visiting outfit’s inability to match Bayern’s aggression for the lion’s share of the contest.
“It was a very physical game and for three quarters we didn’t understand how to play against this number of contacts,” stated the Italian tactician. “We missed too many open shots and at the end of the day, Bayern deserved the win.”