Even 21 points from world champion Johannes Thiemann were not enough for Alba in Belgrade Photo: picture alliance / contrastphoto
By Nicolas Sowa
The basketball players from Alba Berlin remain at the bottom of the Euroleague. The Bundesliga team lost 74:89 (40:43) to Serbian top team Partizan Belgrade on Friday evening, despite a decent performance for a long time.
Alba remains with just one win from nine games. The best Berlin throwers were once again world champion Johannes Thiemann with 21 and Tim Schneider with twelve points.
Coach Israel Gonzalez had to do without winger Justin Bean, who has just become a father for the first time. The outsider from the German capital got off to a good start against the Serbs, who were strong at home. They turned a 2:6 deficit into a 20:14 lead in the first quarter. Alba defied Partizan’s physical play and even had advantages in rebounding under the basket.
But then the hosts became stronger and more accurate. The Berliners now fell behind, but continued to hold on. They always managed to find answers and thus prevented the Serbs from getting into trouble in the first place.
Even after the break, the hectic game was marked by many mistakes on both sides. At the end of the third quarter, the hosts scored better again and took a double-digit lead for the first time (65:52). The Berliners simply didn’t do enough offensively in the second half to put Partizan in serious trouble again.