Bayern with a great chance tonight at Valencia Basket
Valencia Basket will host Bayern Munich at the La Fonteta this evening, in a game that counts for Round 30 of the current EuroLeague.
It will be a crucial game for both teams as Valencia and Bayern are tied for 11th place in the standings with a 13-16 record while the 10th place that qualifies teams for the play-in belongs to Partizan who has 14 wins and 16 losses after beating Baskonia in Belgrade yesterday evening. With just five rounds left in the regular season, every game matters as Bayern coach Pablo Laso pointed out before this game.
At the beginning of February Valencia seemed to be a lock to head to the playoffs but since then the Spanish team lost four consecutive games and now their play-in position is in danger too. To make things worse, it was announced that Brandon Davies, the team’s starting center will miss both games of this double week. Davies was by far the best player for Valencia in last week’s defeat against Fenerbahce. On Sunday Valencia lost in the ACB League too in Girona, a game where Brandon Davies was already absent. After Bayern’s visit, the ‘’Taronja’’ team will play in Monaco on Friday, another difficult game.
Bayern comes after a very important win against Zalgiris in Munich on Friday, a game where Devin Booker led the team in scoring, rebounding and PIR and Nick Weiler-Babb also had a very decent game with a PIR of 18. Serge Ibaka is the leading scorer of the team for the season, proving that his signing wasn’t just a marketing hit for the Bavarian team. They will still miss Andy Obst for today’s game, but the German player is expected to be back soon.
Valencia has the better odds to win today, but considering their stretch of negative results and the absence of Davies this a situation that Bayern should take advantage of and tie Partizan in the standings.
Imre Halasz
Photo credit: EuroLeague
