Alba has celebrated its eighth competitive win in a row. On Thursday evening, the Berliners won the Euroleague at home in front of 2,798 spectators against the Lithuanian champion Zalgiris Kaunas with 82:74 (44:30).
For Alba it was the tenth success in the 26th game. The best Berlin throwers were Johannes Thiemann with 17 and Jaleen Smith with 16 points.
Before the game, both teams held “Stop War” signs in their hands to loud applause, the Zalgiris players also had a Ukraine flag with them.
Alba also played in the national colors of Ukraine for the first time – in blue shirts and yellow trousers. During the first minute of the game, both fan camps were silent.
The game started very energetically, both teams were equal on the offensive. Alba was mostly ahead, but only just.
In the second quarter, however, Zalgiris lost the thread and they didn’t score for almost eight minutes. Alba was able to break away with a 13:0 run. However, they also failed to rush any further at this stage.
After the change of sides, Zalgiris came into play more offensively and now hit his long-range shots. The hosts, on the other hand, found it more difficult and the lead dwindled to three points (53:50).
Alba held against it with an intensive defensive. The decision then came 75 seconds before the end when Smith scored to make it 80:73.