The weakened Alba team suffered their first defeat of the season in the BBL at champions Ulm (archive photo) Photo: picture alliance/dpa
By Nicolas Sowa
Alba Berlin suffered its first defeat in the third game of the season in the Basketball Bundesliga.
On Saturday evening, the Berliners lost to German champions Ratiopharm Ulm after a weak final phase with 88:100 (52:49). The best Berlin throwers were world champion Johannes Thiemann with 19 and Matt Thomas with 16 points.
As in the Euroleague defeat at FC Bayern Munich on Thursday, coach Israel Gonzalez had to do without the injured centers Yanni Wetzell and Khalifa Koumadje. Tim Schneider was also missing. The game started more than ten minutes late due to technical problems. That didn’t seem to bother Alba, they immediately took a 6-2 lead, but Ulm responded promptly.
But towards the end of the first quarter, the guests were able to gain a double-digit lead for the first time (27:17). In a hectic phase shortly before the break, Alba almost lost the lead again. At the end of the third quarter the game was finally even again (68:68).
In the last few minutes nothing worked for the guests. Ulm worked himself into a frenzy and pulled away.