Bayern - Heidelberg
Germany - BBL, Round33
During the weeks behind us, Bayern showed impressive attacking displays in the matches in which Bavarian team played as hosts. A good opportunity to continue that good streak is the match against Heidelberg in BBL Bundesliga.
The duel of the 33rd round of the German championship hardly has any competitive significance. Bayern, a team from the Euroleague, has been defeated seven times this season in the domestic league. They are in third place, until the playoffs they can neither improve nor spoil their ranking.
On the other hand, Heidelberg is in 12th position (14-18 record) and has only a mathematical chance to make the playoffs in the coming weeks.
After the end of the Euroleague competition, Bayern - the team of the famous coach Andrea Trinchieri - is fully focused on the BBL Bundesliga. Heidelberg seems like an ideal opponent at the moment to show which attacking variants are already working - and which ones need additional work before playoffs.
Heidelberg are in good form, with six wins in their last eight matches in the BBL Bundesliga. In their last two matches, an average of 199 points was recorded. Overall, only in the match against Rostock (Heidelberg's victory at home 78:75 on April 14) was not seen good attacking basketball. Heidelberg is a team that, especially against the favorites, does not insist on solid defense but mostly accelerates the game. Bayern are expected to adopt a faster tempo in this game.
On April 26, the home team in Munich defeated Rostock 108:76, and before that won against Frankfurt 95:89. Bayern will certainly have a chance for another effective performance. The team is rested and motivated to improve the impression, after the 83:75 loss away to Gottingen last weekend.
Interestingly, in the head-to-head score, Heidelberg leads 9:7, but these were mostly victories achieved during the sixties and seventies - that is, half a century ago or more.
In their first match of the season, in Mannheim after Christmas, Bayern won 87:83 in front of around 10,000 Heidelberg fans. At the very least, an equally fast and efficient duel is expected.
Heidelberg's best player Eric Washington is in excellent form and the key task for the Bayern players will be to stop him. The American guard averaged an exceptional 24.4 index points during April in the BBL Bundesliga - and in the team's last six victories, he had 20.6 points per match. He is also an exceptional assistant. However, Bayern has a large number of excellent defenders among the guards, who can hold him back at least to some extent.
The problem for Bayern are injuries, guards Corey Walden and Cassius Winston did not play against Gottingen last week, and an ankle injury is an issue for Nick Weiler-Babb. All three could perform, but it's not definitely certain for this match.
Regardless, a good attacking performance can be expected. Heidelberg is averaging an excellent 87.9 points this season, the most behind league leaders Baskets Bonn and Alba. Of course, their style of play is such that they allow a large number of points to their rivals. Coach Joonas Iisalo's team is second in the league in the number of three-point shots on average and will certainly look for opportunities for quick shots in this game as well.
The quality of the individuals is, of course, still on the side of Bayern - a mostly defensive-oriented team, which is ready to show in front of its fans that ithey are also fully capable to "break" rivals in a fierce attacking rhythm.