Johannes Thiemann was Alba’s second best scorer with 14 points Photo: picture alliance / Lukas Adler
By Nicolas Sowa
Alba Berlin has successfully started the new season of the Basketball Bundesliga. The newly formed team from the capital won on Thursday evening at the MLP Academics Heidelberg with 90:81 (44:39).
But the guests struggled for a long time. The match winner was newcomer Matt Thomas, who was the best Berlin thrower with 21 points. World champion Johannes Thiemann scored 14 points.
Coach Israel Gonzalez had to do without newcomer Justin Bean, who was ill.
The start was initially quite balanced and marked by a lot of nervousness. However, Alba defended more intensively and benefited from many of Heidelberg’s missed throws. The guests took the lead 19:10 at the end of the first quarter.
But they also had big problems on offense, with many passes going nowhere. The two young point guards Ziga Samar (22) and Matteo Spagnolo (20) in particular were hardly able to make an impact. So Heidelberg came back and even briefly took the lead again in the second quarter (31:29).
Albas Sterling Brown against MLP Academics Heidelberg Photo: picture alliance / Lukas Adler
But even after the break, Alba stayed ahead. The error rate was still high, but the Berliners could rely on Thomas’ accuracy in this phase. Shortly before the end of the third quarter, the guests had pulled ahead by 13 points (68:55).
The Berliners then took the lead with a solid performance and strong rebound work. Victory was no longer in danger.