Partizan Beat Bayern 86-84 in Munich From 13 Down

Dwayne Washington celebrated his points against his former club with a dance at center court on Friday night. His last shot, the one that could have won it for Bayern, missed. That is how Partizan beat Bayern 86-84 at SAP Garden in Munich and moved to 3-0 after three rounds of the Euroleague.

The round three game was played on October 2, and the Black and Whites arrived short-handed. Derrick Willis is out for at least a month, captain Vanja Marinkovic was already injured, and Lamar Stevens got hurt just before the game and will miss two weeks. Even so, Penarroya used all twelve players, and every one of them scored.

RTS reports that Partizan had never before won its first three Euroleague games. Panathinaikos, Fenerbahce and Valencia are the only other teams with the same record so far.

How did Partizan come back from 13 down?

The first half was even. Partizan defended well, and Alessandro Pajola and Luka Vildoza turned steals into easy baskets. Bayern answered from the free-throw line: it had nine attempts to Partizan’s two in the first quarter, and Washington’s five straight points made it 27-22. Partizan opened the second quarter with threes from Vildoza and Mario Nakic, but the hosts went to the break up 47-46. By then Partizan had shot 12 of 23 on twos and 6 of 13 on threes, with 15 assists, while Bayern had attempted 16 free throws to six.

The third quarter decided what the finish would look like. Partizan scored only 11 points in it and trailed 65-57 after three periods. Bayern led by 13 at one point, and RTS noted during the broadcast that Arijan Lakic alone missed three or four open threes. After a three by Johannes Thiemann, the game looked settled.

With four minutes left, Partizan was on the brink of defeat. Then came a 9-0 run, in which Carlik Jones scored seven points, and the Black and Whites put up 29 points in the fourth quarter. Bayern scored 19 in the same period.

Who won it down the stretch?

Jones was below his standard for a long time, and RTS wrote during the broadcast that he was nowhere to be seen until the finish. He ended with 16 points, five assists and three steals, and he put Partizan ahead 86-84 with one made free throw. Washington then had a shot to win it for Bayern and missed, with Kevarius Hayes blocking his view.

Tonye Jekiri was Partizan’s top scorer with 17 points and 5 rebounds. He made seven of ten twos and all three free throws, and finished with an index rating of 21. Vildoza added 8 points, 4 assists and 3 steals, Pajola had just 4 points but also 7 assists and 4 steals, and Hayes scored 7.

The team numbers show how Partizan won even though the outside shot was not falling:

• two-pointers 24 of 42 (57.1 percent)
• threes 9 of 27 (33.3 percent)
• free throws 11 of 14
• 25 assists, eight turnovers and 13 steals
• rebounds 34 to 32 in Bayern’s favor

For Bayern, Washington scored 20 points, Thiemann 17 and Lucic 9. Lucic and Lauvergne share a history: Joffrey Lauvergne, who scored his first Euroleague points since returning to Partizan in Munich, joined the club in late December 2012, when Lucic was captain. Under coach Dusko Vujosevic they won the ABA League and the Serbian championship together.

What did Penarroya and Jones say?

Coach Joan Penarroya brought up the shooting that was off right away at his press conference in Munich.

“Of course, we are very happy about the win in Munich, particularly because we had certain problems during the game, and one of them was a large number of missed open three-pointers. But still, it was a must for this team to fight for the full 40 minutes, particularly because of the several thousand of our fans who cheered us on in the arena tonight.”

Penarroya then spoke about the last quarter:

“The players understood the situation. This was a 50/50 game and I am very happy, because the players believed in themselves. In the last quarter, when it mattered most, we raised our level of play and managed to get the win. To celebrate in an atmosphere like this in Munich, in front of our fans, is truly incredible.”

Sources differ on how many fans were in the arena. B92 writes that more than 2,000 Partizan supporters took over the city, one broadcast quotes Penarroya as saying 3,000, and RTS records “several thousand.” Jones mentioned the fans himself:

“Our fans are incredible, the support is incredible. Thank you to them for coming. It was great, we felt like we were the home team.”

The point guard took little of the credit for the comeback.

“I tried to stay true to myself, to stay calm in my head and find a way to lead the team to the win. We played defense and tried not to give them easy shots. It’s not about me, it’s about my teammates. They trusted me throughout the entire game. They helped me a lot when I was down, when I was on the ground, and afterward I hit some important shots.”

Jones added that “we have to stay together” because “sometimes not everything will go the way it should.” On Washington’s celebrations, he said:

“Maybe the fans think he was provoking, but he celebrated his points like he always does. We are similar. I don’t think he aimed anything at the fans. I told him I love him, he is my brother.”

On the 3-0 start, Jones said:

“It’s still early. We have to stay humble. Never too high, never too low. We have three wins, those are big wins, huge, especially during a double week.”

Bayern coach Anton Gavel explained the loss by pointing to the last quarter:

“We gave up the most points so far in the last quarter, we didn’t manage to finish, even though we were leading. We had too many turnovers. Congratulations to our opponent.”

What awaits Partizan after Munich?

In round four, Partizan visits Real Madrid, which has yet to win a game in this Euroleague season. It will be the Black and Whites’ fourth straight road game. After that, they host Panathinaikos and coach Zeljko Obradovic at the Belgrade Arena. Bayern hosts Virtus in the next round.