Alba Berlin suffered their third consecutive defeat in the basketball Euroleague, despite a 20-point lead in the meantime.
Alba Berlin suffered their third consecutive defeat in the basketball Euroleague. Despite a temporary 20-point lead, Alba lost 81-88 (44-32) to Lithuania’s top club Zalgiris Kaunas on Friday night after a crisis in the last quarter.
The team coached by Israel Gonzalez now have three wins and three losses behind them. Berlin’s best pitchers were Gabriele Procida and Jaleen Smith with eleven points each.
He started strong, fell strong
The German champions still lacked the injured Marcus Eriksson, Jonas Mattisseck and Maodo Lo. After a short crawl, the Berliners quickly gained momentum even without the trio. With a lot of speed and a good defense, Alba managed to pull away slowly. Guests ran a 19: 3 run through the quarters.
After 17 minutes, Alba was leading by 20 points for the first time (43:23). But then Berlin lost the ball and Kaunas promptly punished the negligence. The Lithuanians also played more intensely on defense and Alba scored just one point in the last three minutes before half-time.
Kaunas hits and hits
Even in the second half the ball did not pass so smoothly through the lines of Berlin, who lost more and more control. Four and a half minutes before the end Kaunas is back in the lead after a long time (71:70).
Alba continued to counter, but the Lithuanians have now scored almost at will. Alba literally went under in the last quarter. The preliminary decision came 64 seconds before the end when Edgaras Ulanova scored for 85:76.
Broadcast: rbb24, November 4, 2022, 9:45 pm
