Johannes Thiemann moves to the basket – but in the end it wasn’t enough for Alba to win Photo: picture alliance / contrastphoto
By Nicolas Sowa
The basketball players from Alba Berlin lost the basement duel in the Euroleague and slipped to last place in the table.
On Wednesday evening, the Bundesliga team lost at home in front of 6,561 spectators against the French top team Asvel Villeutbanne 68:73 (35:43). For Alba it was the seventh defeat in the eighth game of the premier class. The best Berlin thrower was world champion Johannes Thiemann with 16 points
The Berliners completely missed the beginning. Villeurbanne was more alert, faster and, above all, more accurate. The hosts lost the ball and had a lot of free throws. But the intensity was particularly lacking on defense. Alba was already 8:23 behind in the first quarter.
Gabriele Procida dunking. The Italian brought more impetus to Alba’s game Photo: picture alliance / contrastphoto
With the inclusion of Gabriele Procida in the second half, more emotions finally came into Berlin’s game. The Italian woke up his team with a block, a dunk, a three-pointer and a steel in a row. Shortly before the break, Alba was back within two points (35:37).
The hosts even took the lead for the first time with a 12-0 run right after the break. They pulled ahead by seven points (55:48). But then the thread broke again.
Villeurbanne was back up by ten points in the final quarter (67:57). But Alba fought back and came back within one point with 93 seconds to go (68:69). But the Berliners lost their possible chance to win in the final phase.