Alba’s Gabriele Procida fails to stop Real’s Vicent Poirier from dunking Photo: picture alliance / NurPhoto
By Nicolas Sowa
The descent of basketball Bundesliga club Alba Berlin in the Euroleague continues. On Thursday evening, the Berliners were clearly defeated by the Spanish champions Real Madrid with 72:90 (37:53).
Coach Israel Gonzalez’s team started the season with three wins, but have now suffered their fifth defeat in a row. The best Berlin throwers were Gabriele Procida with 13 and Johannes Thiemann and Yanni Wetzell with ten points each.
Positive: After a week-long injury break, international Maodo Lo celebrated his comeback against real Photo: picture alliance / NurPhoto
National player Maodo Lo returned to Alba after a long injury break. However, three players were still missing in Marcus Eriksson, Jonas Mattisseck and Louis Olinde. In addition, Captain Luke Sikma suffered a capsule injury in his right ankle and was also temporarily out.
The guests scored the first points, but then Real got rolling. Alba quickly came under pressure and conceded too many turnovers, which the hosts punished with quick fast breaks.
After around five and a half minutes, the deficit was in double digits for the first time (8:18). After that, the German champions came into play better offensively, but too often the Berlin defense was overwhelmed against fast Spaniards.
Especially under the basket there was hardly anything for the guests to get against the tall Spaniards. Immediately after the break, the gap grew to 39:63. Real then slowed down a bit, but the Spanish star ensemble had the game under control until the end.