Jaleen Smith was the only Berliner who went offensive in the early stages, but now even the US Guard, who is in such good form at the moment, hesitated. Smith dribbled the ball towards the basket as the imposing figure of Walter Tavares loomed in front of him, but turned and passed the ball out of the zone. The basketball players from Alba Berlin needed a lot of time on Thursday evening until they shed their respect for Real Madrid’s 2.20 meter center.
After that, they showed an impressive reaction from an early deficit of 19 points, but they could not avoid the 14th defeat in the 14th duel with the Spaniards. With the 77:84 (12:25, 23:21, 24:20, 18:18) in front of 9957 spectators in the MB Arena, the short series of successes in the Euroleague ended as expected after three wins in a row against the leaders of the table. The performance nevertheless confirmed the significant progress made in recent weeks. Best pitchers were Smith (22), Tamir Blatt (12) and Maodo Lo (10) at Alba and Dzanan Musa (15), Fabien Causeur (11) and Mario Hezonja (11) at Real.
The Berliners started with a three by Smith, but then hit next to nothing. In Tavares’ territory they hardly dared and from a distance they were one in nine after the first quarter.
In total, Alba got two baskets out of the field in the first ten minutes. Real, on the other hand, played with the composure of a top team. The Spaniards defended well and hit their threes. After eight minutes, they were leading by two digits for the first time and continuously extended this lead. The breadth of the Spaniards’ squad was particularly impressive, with Dzanan Musa, Mario Hezonja, Vincent Poirier and the veterans Sergio Llull and Sergio Rodriguez coming off the bench.
But towards the middle of the second quarter, Alba slowly worked her way into this game. In defense, the hosts now acted more aggressively and at least from a distance the shot rate was significantly better. That was largely down to Smith, who had already scored four threes and 16 points by half-time. The deficit at the break was only eleven points.
Berlin’s reaction on the field was followed by Berlin’s reaction in the stands. It was now a real basketball game that Real might have already checked off internally. At least the Spaniards took Alba’s comeback for a long time surprisingly apathetically. With a lot of commitment, speed and courage, the outsider shortened more and more. At the beginning of the final quarter it was only 64:66 after a three by Tamir Blatt.
The subsequent time out by Real coach Mateo Chus clearly did his team good. With two quick baskets, the Madrilenians pulled away again and this time they brought the win home.
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