Berlin (AFP) – The Alba Berlin basketball team suffered its third defeat in the Euroleague.
The German champions lost in their own hall to 3,145 spectators after a poor first game against Spanish club Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz with a time of 76:80 (29:52).
Berlin’s best shooter was Luke Secma with 19 points and Oscar da Silva with 15 points. Coach Israel Gonzalez had to dispense with the injured quartet of Johannes Thiemann, Krist Kumadji, Ben Lammers and Marcus Ericsson. With Rokas Giedraitis, Simone Fontecchio, Jayson Granger and Landry Nnoko, four of the former Berlin players were in the Basques’ starting line-up. The Berliners scored the first points, but they had to stay ahead.
Alba couldn’t build on the recent good defensive performance. After two days of fighting against Fenerbahce, the team looked tired as playing time increased. While the guests met many of their litter, few went with the Berliners. At the start of the second quarter, the gap was double digits for the first time (17:29). Shortly before the end of the first half the number was 24 points.
After the break, Alba was able to improve, now fighting for every ball, defending more aggressively, barely allowing the Spaniards to shoot easy baskets. So the hosts struggled to get back to four points in the final division. Baskonia vacillated, but the hosts’ race to catch up was no longer rewarded in the end.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211014-99-601090 / 2 (dpa)
