Bayern's victory over Milan gave its fans plenty of reasons to celebrate
Vladimir Lucic boosted banged-up Bayern against Milan
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3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 25 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Despite losing its starting center to injury just two days before the game, FC Bayern Munich regrouped to claim an 87-70 victory over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan on Tuesday night. With the win, Bayern remained in the thick of the playoff race and put its recent losses behind it. Bayern is now on a three-game winning streak and team captain Vladimir Lucic is slowly but steadily finding his rhythm.
Lucic missed 20 regular season games due to injury and finally showed his best against Milan, the form that saw him earn All-EuroLeague First Team honors with Bayern in the 2020-21 season. He was all over the place, finishing the game with 16 points on 3-of-3 two-point shooting, 2-of-4 on three-pointers (after going 0 of 8 from downtown this season entering the game) and 4-of-4 on free throws. Lucic also had 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal for a game-high PIR of 21.
In other words, Lucic is back. That is great news for Bayern and of course, bad news for its next opponents, as few players have his combination of size, shooting range and off-the-charts basketball IQ.
"It feels great, for sure. Even better, knowing that I helped the team tonight, since it was a really important game for us," Lucic said after the game. "We actually started a little bit nervous, which is maybe normal since we lost one of the most important players of this team, Devin Booker, so we didn't have enough time, maybe one day to adjust to some new things. We talked in the locker room and I think we went out ready to play and compete. In the end, we deserved the win."
There was more good news for Bayern. In a game without starting center Booker and point guard Shabazz Napier, scoring machine Carsen Edwards was held scoreless for three quarters. Edwards entered the game averaging 19.7 points per games. Nevertheless, Bayern led 37-36 at halftime with solid contributions from Niels Giffey and Johannes Voigtmann. Edwards scored all of his 12 points in the third quarter, in which Bayern made the difference in the game.
Voigtmann finished the game with 13 points and Giffey had a season-high 16. After the game, Voigtmann explained how difficult it was to adjust to playing without Booker.
"We had to be ready to step up: everybody, especially the bigs, because Devin Booker is a main reason why we are where we are right now, and we are missing him already," Voigtmann said. "I think we came out with the right mindset. We had good energy and defensively, we looked pretty good. We controlled the rebounds for the whole game. Offensively, we made some shots at the right moment. The third quarter was big for us, and we kept that lead until the end."
Bayern remains home for its second game this week when it hosts LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in Round 26. It will be ASVEL's first visit to SAP Garden. Last season, Bayern was the first-ever guest at LDLC Arena in a EuroLeague game. Bayern edged ASVEL 100-101 in double overtime. If that game is as close and thrilling as the one played on November 23, 2023, you are in for a treat!