Alba’s Jaleen Smith saves the ball in front of Chemnitz’s Dominic Lockhart. He was the best thrower in Berlin with 18 points Photo: City Press
By Nicolas Sowa
The Berliners have celebrated four competitive defeats in a row, an important home win. On Saturday evening, the German champions won in front of 9023 spectators after a hard fight against the Niners Chemnitz with 101:91 (50:49). Alba remains second in the table behind leader Bonn. The best Berlin throwers were Jaleen Smith with 18 and Johannes Thiemann with 15 points.
Tough fight: Johannes Thiemann is harassed by Nelson Weidemann from Chemnitz (Photo by Florian Pohl/City-Press GmbH)
Just two days after the Euroleague defeat by Bologna, Alba got off to a disastrous start. After less than three minutes, the Berliners, who had to do without the injured Tamir Blatt and Yovel Zoosman and rested captain Luke Sikma, were already 2:10 behind. Coach Israel Gonzalez promptly called the time-out. And that helped, because now things were going better for the defending champion, at least offensively.
But the error rate at Alba was still high. In the first half alone, the Berliners allowed themselves twelve turnovers. In addition, Chemnitz was often far too easy to pull to the basket and score. The game was more balanced, but Chemnitz always had an answer when Alba came back or was able to take the lead.
Louis Olinde tries to stop Chemnitz Kevin Yebo Photo: City Press
Shortly before half-time, Alba took the lead 50:46 after a long time, but that only lasted for a short time. Immediately after the break, the Berliners were again just behind.
But in the last quarter the hosts had more reserves. With a 16:0 run, Alba was able to break away decisively and then brought the victory home.