By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Alba Berlin went on the road to Serbia for the Euroleague Round 5 clash against Crvena Zvezda and came out on top with 78-63.
Maodo Lo banked in 17 points including 3-4 from deep while Luke Sikma and Yovel Zoosman added 11 points each. Tamir Blatt scored ten.
Sikma liked everything about the squad’s display and believes that is the formula for getting wins on the road.
“We’re really happy with the win. We played a pretty complete game. I really liked our defense. I really liked our offense. We didn’t let the pressure really get to us. We shared the ball. We were secure with the ball. That’s what you have to do to win on the road. So, we’re really happy to win in this environment.”
For Zvezda, Ognjen Kuzmic kept his recent good form with 16 points while Nate Wolters helped with 13 and Luka Mitrovic with 11 points. Mitrovic also grabbed nine boards.
The two sides clashed with each other a total of seven times in the competition since 2015 and, while Zvezda won the first one, the German side came out on top in all the duels that followed. At the moment, both teams have a 2-3 record in the standings.
This time around, defensive performance was the primary focus of both teams, especially Zvezda which made it its trademark under coach Dejan Radonjic. However, Alba overpowered them in that aspect, forcing 14 turnovers.
They also banked in 11 threes on offense which was crucial in their 16-2 run at the start of the second quarter. That push gave them a 38-25 lead at halftime and the team managed to keep their offensive production steady, not allowing Zvezda to reach closer than a nine-point margin (53-44) and securing the win.
Coach Israel Gonzales has got some improvements on his mind going forward but he’s quite satisfied and happy with the win.
“I’m very happy for my players. They played very good basketball today. They played good defense. Of course, we can improve some details on defense. But offensively we played very good: passing the ball, sharing the ball, moving without the ball. And I’m very happy about that.”