The basketball players from Alba Berlin remain at the bottom of the Euroleague. At the start of the second half of the season on Boxing Day, the Bundesliga club lost to Spanish champions Real Madrid 69:80 (34:45) in front of almost 10,000 spectators.
Alba remains with three wins and now 15 defeats. The best Berlin throwers were David McCormack with 15 and Malte Delow with 13 points. The hosts started well and were able to keep the game at eye level in the first few minutes. However, they were in the lead for the last time at 9:8. They then left too much lying around and the guests punished them coldly. By the end of the first quarter the deficit had already reached double digits (13:23).
Alba fights her way up again
Madrid now threw one three-pointer after another into the basket. In the middle of the second period the deficit was already 17 points (31:48) and another debacle was looming. But the Berliners were able to improve – especially defensively. They fought for every ball and the game was now much more balanced.
So Alba slowly crawled her way back. At the start of the last quarter the hosts were back up to six points (55:61). But they ultimately left too much behind to be able to put Real in serious danger. In the end, the individual quality of the Spaniards prevailed.