Alba Berlin stopped its negative run in the Euroleague with a surprising victory.
After the last four defeats in a row in the premier class, the basketball Bundesliga team won at home on Wednesday against the Russian top team Unics Kazan with a clear 81:53 (36:26). For Alba it was the seventh win in 22 games. Best Berlin throwers in front of 1600 spectators were Maodo Lo with 16 and Jaleen Smith with 14 points.
It was also the highest Euroleague victory in Alba’s club history!
Top scorer Marcus Eriksson was still missing from the German champions due to a foot injury. An intense game developed from the start, in which both defensive lines dominated. Alba needed nearly three and a half minutes for captain Luke Sikma to score his team’s first points.
Kazan did not do any better either and missed many throws. In the first half, the playoff candidate did not succeed in throwing a shot from distance – in eleven attempts. However, the Berliners also found it difficult to find good throwing positions against the very agile Russian defense. But they scored a little more often and that was enough to temporarily lead by eleven points (28:17).
After the change of sides, the Berliners were even able to improve their defense and repeatedly stopped the attacks of the guests. In the third quarter, Kazan only scored nine points and Alba was temporarily able to pull away to 23 points (53:30). That was the preliminary decision, because the Berliners didn’t let themselves be taken away from this lead until the end.